Russia Considers Restricted Tea Import From Srilanka

Russia was the second largest buyer of Sri Lanka’s Ceylon tea after Iran in 2016 with $143 million worth of purchases and it accounts 23 percent of the Russian market, according to Sri Lanka’s Industry Ministry.

Followed by detection of an insect, known as the Khapra beetle, was discovered in the packaging of the consignment of tea from Sri Lanka, Russia placed temporary restrictions on imports of tea and all other agricultural products from Sri Lanka from Dec. 18 .

A Srilankan delegation led by Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Russia in Moscow met Russia’s agriculture safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor on Tuesday ( 18) and requested information on what steps being taken in Sri Lanka to secure the safety of tea intended for export to Russia.

Russia’s agriculture safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor plans to hold discussion with Srilankan delegation at the end of December to consider restricted tea import from Srilanka said in a statement issued by Rosselkhoznadzor on Tuesday (19 ) .