Only tea factories that meet standards will be allowed to produce for export-By Saman Indrajith

Source:Island

Standards of tea factories producing for export will be assessed, and only those who scored more than 80 percent of marks in a standards test would be given permits to export tea, Plantations Minister Dr Ramesh Pathirana has said.

He said so in response to a question raised by MP Udayana Kirindiyagoda at the parliamentary consultative committee held at the parliamentary complex on Thursday (Nov 26).

The Minister said that the quality could not be controlled without strict maintenance of standards.

He said that the assessment process had already started, and 30 factories in Ambalangoda had been inspected but only two factories had been given the permits and similarly 172 factories in Gampola had been inspected, but only 26 had passed the standards test to qualify for the export permit, the Minister said.

He said that the factory owners had been given seven days to transport the processed tea and that had been brought down to two days and the process was completed under the supervision of the officials from the Sri Lanka Tea Board.

Minister Pathirana said that the rubber prices had increased and the ministry had paid attention to developing the rubber industry. He said that a tyre factory would be set up at Hambantota at a cost of USD 300 million and rubber producers could supply their rubber to that factory.