July tea output falls 11% on trade union action

Reuters: Sri Lanka’s July tea output fell 11.08% from a year earlier, due to a “go slow action” by trade union workers, the State-run Tea Board said on Thursday. 

“It’s mainly because of the go slow action of the workers,” said Jayantha Edirisinghe, acting Director General of the Sri Lanka Tea Board. Production in the first six months was down 1.79%.

The island nation’s annual tea output fell 0.6% in 2014 from a year earlier, missing the annual forecast. 

It rose 4.2% in 2013 to a record 340.2 million kg, surpassing its 2010 peak of 331.4 million kg. 

However, earnings hit a record $ 1.63 billion in 2014, up from $ 1.54 billion in 2013. 

Tea, Sri Lanka’s top agricultural export commodity, is one of the main foreign currency earners for the $ 78.6 billion economy.