2022 news items

UK TEA COUNCIL LEAFIES TEA COMPETITION 2022:

I entered a single estate tea, New Vithanakande B.O.P. 1 suplied specially direct from a special manufacture at that estate and it has received a ‘Highly Commended’ award. I am informed that the section that this tea was entered in, 13BSLN was the largest class of teas with some fifty teas entered. Two classes of award were given in each section, either Gold or Highly commended.

OPERATIONS IN THE ISLAND ARE TAXING BUT WORKING REASONABLY WELL SO FAR:

It hs been a very difficult time to be operating in the island but so far the estates are delivering and it seems the cancellation of the importation of fertilisers has lifted and companies are now importing their requirements, which hopefully will raise the estate yields. Certain large grades have  very yield from a manufacture run and the lack of fertilisers have meant estates taking longer to undertake the manufactures required with the green leaf levels available.

PRESENT SITUATION WORKING IN SRI LANKA

In March 2022 we were able to quickly obtained the manufactures from the individual estates we work with but Covid, particularly in the Colombo area was in sucessive lock downs. As the various businesses that we operate with in Colombo for our design work and packing the teas were unable to rely on labour entering the city from outside, the various processes kept stalling, opening for a few days and locking down again. That combined with soaring shipping surcharges added to the normal agreed shipping rates and container shiping lines in chaos with limited manpower that led to several bookings canceling as ships cancelled visiting Colombo, delayed our ability to ship out the seaon’s teas.
As we enter the new hoped for Uva season, the signs are again not good but we have been guaranteed priority for exporting and fuel for transport. I am waiting for the present weather conditions in the Eastern hills to begin to develop combination of weather we need and keeping our fingers crossed that we can progress successfully for our clients.

THE PASSING OF MY OLD PLANTING COLLEAGUE MANTHI DELWITA

I first met Manthi when he came to Le Vallon group in 1962 and over the years we have worked together on this project and become great friends. He was always encouraging me to bring out groups of people on our tours because he loved meeting the people and showing them around his beautiful and diverse island. Regretably on 20th. April this year he passed away after a bad fall at home. Whenever we visited the island we were always welcomed to his home in Colombo and visits to his home at Kurunegala where he was born. We were lucky enough to meet his wonderful wife Noelene before she sadly passed away with Cancer some twenty years ago and we have come to know his two sons and his younger brother’s family. The firm luckily continues and I have the great pleasure of working with his son Luvinda by which this wonderful partnership continues hopefully for a few more years. My family’s association with this beautiful island reached six generations with me on Le Vallon and covers many wonderful memories ofthat place. As another planting friend of mine expressed last year, ‘Robert, we experienced the best years without a doubt’. It has been quite painful to witness the sad decline under the various governments since I left and the departure from their early Buddhist teachings on life plus the corrosive effect of over population in such a small island.

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