Estate Superintendents oppose Russian tea ban

The Estate Superintendents emphasize that no insects can be present inside the packaging material of tea exported from Sri Lanka, as world recognized quality standards are followed in the process of tea exportation.

They made this observance while commenting on the restrictions placed by Russia on tea imports from Sri Lanka.

The Russian Federation temporarily banned Sri Lankan tea on December 14, due to the detection of a single specimen of the agricultural pest, the beetle Trogoderma granarium in the packaging material of a consignment of tea shipped from Sri Lanka.

However, it was noted that the beetle is a pest of grain crops such as rice, and has never been associated with tea.

The Estate Superintendents said that the ban will be temporary as there is no substitute to match the standards of Sri Lankan tea.

Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have made it explicitly clear that the ban is of a temporary nature and would last only until the completion of negotiations and clarification of the situation with the competent authority of Sri Lanka.

“We are of the view that the specimen discovered in the packaging material may have entered the shipping container while transporting the shipment across several countries over a period of months” they said.

The Estate Superintendents also pointed out that Russia had failed to confirm that the beetle is of Sri Lankan origin.

Russia was the second largest tea market for Sri Lanka in 2016 after Iran. Russia imported US$ 143 million worth of Ceylon Tea, which was 11.3 percent of Sri Lanka’s tea exports.