Sri Lankan planters want plucking quota increase to reduce costs
Sri Lankan tea planters submitted a proposal to increase the daily plucking average as a means of reducing high unit production costs. The Planters' Association of Ceylon estimates that a 2-kilogram increase in the daily plucking average of each worker can bring down unit cost of production by 6.5% and keep plantations financially viable. This would help the industry deal with substantially higher cost of labor and lower productivity compared to countries like Kenya and India, whose teas already fetch about 30% less than those from Sri Lanka. Also, a Sri Lankan plucker currently earns about twice as much as counterparts in Kenya or India.