COLOMBO, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka produced 300 million kgs of tea in 2019, a slight decline from the 303 million kgs produced a year earlier, Tea Producers Asiya Siyaka quoted in local media reports said here Friday.
In a report released by Asiya Siyaka, it said that tea production in Sri Lanka in 2019 was the lowest since the El Nino year in 2016, where production contracted to 292 million kgs.
High grow tea production in 2019, amounted to 63 million kgs while low grow tea production amounted to 189.9 million kgs. Mid grown tea production amounted to 47.1 million kgs.
Given that Sri Lanka managed an average production of 310 million kgs for four consecutive years, the tea industry initially projected a production figure of 301 million kgs for 2019.
The report said the tea industry globally showed also witnessed a storm.
"This situation in fact has been building up from end 2017 and has its roots in the El Nino drought in 2016. We note with deep concern the new predictions of an El Nino in 2020," the report said.
Sri Lanka's new government, last month said it will launch an ambitious 10-year master plan titled "Road Map 2030" to rapidly modernize the island country's tea sector through technological intervention.
The master plan would be "focusing on the entire tea value chain" in order to set the industry on a path of profitability and environmental sustainability, while ensuring tangible benefits for local communities.
