New BOI project signed to produce tea for Chinese market

Thursday, 24 January 2013 00:51 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Board of Investment (BOI) Sri Lanka signed an agreement on 17 January 2013 with M/s ElpitiyaDianhong Jin Ya Tea Company Ltd. at the BOI premises at the World Trade Centre.

M/s ElpitiyaDianhong Jin Ya Tea Company is a joint venture between M/s Elpitiya Plantations (EPP), Sri Lanka, and M/s Dianhong International Ltd., Hongkong (DIL), a subsidiary of M/s Yunnan Dianhong Group Company Ltd. of China (DYGCL), for growing, processing and marketing of high quality ‘Chinese specialty tea’.

The project is to be launched in the upcountry tea estates owned by EPP. This high quality Chinese specialty tea is expected to cater to Tony Goonewardane, Director of Elpitiya Dianhong Jin Ya Tea Company and CEO of Elpitiya Plantations and Devan De Mel, Director of Elpitiya Plantations the high-end market segment in greater China. The project will pave the way for more foreign investment of this nature to come into the country with modern technology and machinery, which will expose more Sri Lankan tea products to the Chinese market.

EPP is one of the premier plantation companies in Sri Lanka which is presently managed by M/s Aitken Spence Plantation Managements Ltd. It consists of 13 large estates situated in up, mid and low country regions which cultivate tea, rubber, oil palm and coconut.

M/s Yunnan Dianhong Group Company Ltd. of China (DGCL) is the biggest private share holding black tea manufacturer in Greater China, and it has been exporting tea to England, US and other countries since 1940.