Sri Lanka spices industry targets $ 1 b exports, but value addition is key: SAPPTA

Chairman Ryan Rambukwella 

• Chairman Ryan Rambukwella says sector could not expand meaningfully if plantations, traders, processors and exporters continued to operate in silos
• Asserts contamination, traceability gaps continue to threaten export value and market access
• Calls for safeguards around imported raw materials used exclusively for value-added re-export
• Notes working-capital constraints keeping businesses heavily focused on commodity trading
• Opines mechanisation, automation and modern processing becoming critical to competitiveness

By Charumini de Silva

Spices and Allied Products Producers’ and Traders’ Association (SAPPTA) Chairman Ryan Rambukwella said Sri Lanka’s spices industry should target $ 1 billion in export revenue at the earliest, but achieving that ambition will require a decisive shift from commodity trading towards value addition, branded products, technology, and stronger coordination across the value chain.

Addressing the SAPPTA’s 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) last Friday, he said the sector could not expand meaningfully if plantations, traders, processors, and exporters continued to operate in silos.

“Irrespective of our individual businesses and aspirations, I believe there should be one common national objective. Sri Lanka’s spice industry should reach $ 1 billion in export revenue in the shortest possible time,” he said.

He identified compliance failures, restricted access to raw materials, working capital constraints, limited value addition, and slow technology adoption as key barriers to achieving that target.

However, Rambukwella pointed out that Sri Lanka could not simply produce and trade more spices to reach $ 1 billion.

“If we all compete only for the same limited pool of raw material, we simply divide the existing opportunity. Value addition and brand building allow us to make that opportunity larger,” Rambukwella said.

He said contamination issues involving chlorate, perchlorate, nicotine, and lead continued to affect the industry, with exporters sometimes unable to clearly establish where problems originated.

Rather than addressing contamination only after consignments were rejected or downgraded, Rambukwella called for stronger traceability and coordinated work involving testing and certification agencies, exporters, the Department of Export Agriculture (DEA), UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and other specialists.

“If we can improve traceability and resolve these compliance issues, we can generate greater export value from the same volume of production,” he said.

More controversially, the SAPPTA wants the Government and industry to examine a controlled mechanism for importing raw materials for genuine value addition and re-export.

Rambukwella acknowledged the sensitivity, stressing that farmers and domestic producers must be protected. But he argued that Sri Lankan processors compete against countries able to source raw materials globally.

Thus, he suggested a carefully designed and traceable system could allow imported material to be used strictly for processing and re-export without distorting domestic prices or undermining farmer livelihoods.

“The objective should be a well-thought-out national framework that protects the local market, while allowing Sri Lanka to grow as a competitive value-added export centre,” he added.

He also highlighted financing as a major constraint, arguing that high working-capital pressure forces businesses to turn over inventory quickly rather than hold, process, and enhance its value.

“If we want to move from commodity trading towards value-added exports, we need financing structures that better reflect the realities of agricultural trade,” Rambukwella said.

For a resource-constrained country, he opined, competing purely on volume was not viable. “How much value can we generate from every kilogram we produce or process?” he asked, calling for greater investment in ingredients, extracts, finished products and, crucially, Sri Lankan brands.

“A commodity carries a market price. A successful brand carries brand equity, intellectual property, reputation, and long-term intangible value,” he said.

Rambukwella also warned that labour shortages and technological advances among competing origins were making mechanisation and automation increasingly urgent across cultivation, harvesting, drying, sorting, processing, and traceability.

“Technology and mechanisation are no longer optional; they are becoming essential to our competitiveness,” he said.

He said the SAPPTA would strengthen market information services and provide a platform for industry and Government to address bottlenecks collectively.

 – Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe