ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s agricultural production in December-January saw a decrease in paddy, fish and coconut, while tea and rubber picked up, the central bank said.
“Paddy production for the 2024/2025 Maha season, based on the sown extent as of end December 2024, is forecasted at 2.57 million metric tons, a 5.7% decline from the previous Maha season,” the central bank’s Agriculture Data Bulletin for February 2025 showed.
However, the paddy production forecast for the 2024 Yala season, based on the sown extent reported as of end September 2024, is 2.02 million metric tons (11.4% increase from the previous Yala season).
“Coconut production experienced a significant decline of 33.1% in December 2024 and 32.3% in January 2025.”
Fish production decreased by 12.0% during the month of December, the central banks said, “largely driven by declines in inland fishing activities”.
Meanwhile, domestic tea production increased by 9.6% in December and 14.6% in January 2025, but global tea prices continued to decline.
Local rubber production also grew in December 2024 by 32.4%. “However, as per provisional data, production dropped in January 2025.”
Domestic sugar production increased by 21.0% (y-o-y) during 2024. “International sugar prices decreased in January 2025 mainly due to improved global supply, aided by good weather in Brazil and India’s sugar exports resumption.”
In January 2025, the market prices of many export crops such as pepper, coffee, cinnamon, cocoa, cardamom, nutmeg, and turmeric experienced an increase, while prices of clove and ginger registered a decline.
“Earnings from exports of spices increased in the month of January 2025 (y-o-y), mainly due to the strong performance in exports of Pepper and Cloves.” (Colombo/Mar14/2025)
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