To Lift Russian Tea Ban President Sirisena to Speak to Putin
Russia imports about 30 million kilos of tea from Sri Lanka each year and is the largest buyer. In the first 10 months of 2017 Russia bought 29.5 million kilograms valued at $ 23 million, which is about 12% of the country’s total exports. Followed by reported detection of a single specimen of an agricultural pest, the beetle ‘Trogoderma granarium’ in the packaging material of a consignment of tea shipped from Sri Lanka, last Thursday Russia introduced restrictions on the import of plant products including tea from Sri Lanka, to take effect for shipments leaving Sri Lanka on or after 18 December 2017.
The Sri Lanka Tea Board believes the specimen discovered in the packaging material may have remained in the shipping container concerned following the use of this container for the transport of grain on a previous occasion, not necessarily of Sri Lankan origin, and has requested for more details regarding the finding from Russian officials.
Meanwhile, Government officials led by Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Russia Saman Weerasinghe sought a meeting with relevant Russian officials in Moscow to provide assurances of Ceylon Tea quality, an official said yesterday. Official delegation include officials from the Tea Board, tea research and agriculture departments to make the case for local tea.
Plantations Minister Navin Dissanayake and Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen were set to fly to Moscow to discuss the ban, though that may now happen after the officials visit. A weekend newspaper reported that Science, Technology and Research Minister Susil Premajayantha is also expected to visit separately, to discuss Sri Lanka’s pending asbestos ban, which said to be the real reason to ban Srilanka tea. In 2016 the Sri Lankan Government announced it would stop imports of chrysotile asbestos from 2018, which is primarily imported from Russia Analysts have been quick to speculate a link between the two events.
However, the festive season is likely to impede Colombo’s efforts to push for a meeting as Russian government departments will be closed for at least two weeks for Christmas and New Year.
In the meantime, President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said, he would make an official request to his Russian counterpart to resolve a temporary ban on tea imports to Russia that comes into effect from today. The President’s Office was not immediately clear on when a request would be made by President Sirisena to President Putin but the contents of any such communique are likely to be confidential.
