Search Results for: Sri Lankan

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
THE SRI Lankan government has returned its international airport departure tax fee to SLRupees 1,000 (US$10.29), having temporarily raised it to 1,500 (US$15.44). The move had prompted criticism as the higher tax rate outstripped rival destinations in the region.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE PROSPECT of significant underwater monosite, ilmanite, rutile and zircon off the Sri Lankan coast has attracted the attention of 10 international companies, two from Australia, two from India and two from Sri Lanka. Their applications to mine the 11 heavy mineral seabed deposits, whose estimated worth exceeds US$330 million, are being considered by the island’s Marine Pollution Prevention Authority (MPPA).…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
PENGUIN India has reported huge sales of the Order of the Phoenix, with 60,000 sales being distributed around the country and another 40,000 being sent out to booksellers next week. “Sales have been phenomenal, especially in the south and west regions,” marketing manager Thomas Abraham told the Hindustan Times.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A SRI Lanka soap manufacturer has been given a global prize for the quality of his product seven months after the award was announced, because he had been unable to secure a visa to visit London for three days to receive it.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
SRI Lanka Insurance Corporation officials are assessing catastrophic losses that have hit the country’s tea industry which have been wrought by flooding devastating low-lying plantations. Early estimates predict that the island’s economy could lose as much as SLRupees 2.8 billion (US$28.79 million) because of the disaster.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
SRI Lanka Insurance Corporation officials are assessing catastrophic losses that have hit the country’s tea industry which have been wrought by flooding devastating low-lying plantations. Early estimates predict that the island’s economy could lose as much as SLRupees 2.8 billion (US$28.79 million) because of the disaster.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union is facing growing opposition at the World Trade Organisation to its stance on geographical indications, where it refuses to grant protection to traditional regional names of drinks and food products from non-EU countries, unless their governments roughly copy Europe’s own rules.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A THIRD competitor will enter the Sri Lanka petrol distribution market this summer, said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. Its identity was to be unveiled at the Columbo Stock Exchange. The Indian Oil Company is the other competitor.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SRI Lankan government should work with the country’s leather industry to improve the quality of raw hides, a national industry workshop has concluded. It heard that the trade in finished or semi-finished Sri Lankan leather was suffering because of poor hide standards.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA, in Columbo
CONSTRUCTION of an airport at Matugama, western Sri Lanka, was to start this month (April), to boost transport links to tourist developments. The island’s travel industry has been boosted by the peace deal with the Tamil Tigers.…