News & market updates

The 27th Presidential Export Awards ceremony will be held on December 11, 2025 at BMICH to recognise Sri Lanka's exporters for FY2024/25, with 66 awards (15 overall, 51 sectoral) to be presented. People’s Bank is the platinum sponsor, with SLTB and SLECIC as silver sponsors.

British Council awarded 127 Connections Through Culture grants for 2025, including six Sri Lankan projects supported within over GBP 1,200,000 of global funding. Sri Lanka grantees include theatrical, design and digital storytelling projects, tea-planter research, and climate-focused performances presented at events such as Colomboscope.

Sri Lanka held a "Business & Tourism Opportunities in Sri Lanka" forum in Brussels on 13 October 2025 to promote trade, investment and tourism, highlighting opportunities in tourism, pharmaceuticals, F&B, ICT, renewable energy and exports such as tea and coconut products.

Sri Lanka ran a marginal current-account surplus of 6 billion rupees in Jan–Sept 2025 as tax and non-tax revenues rose while recurrent spending grew; the overall deficit was 441 billion rupees after grants. The central bank missed its 5–7% inflation target and the rupee has begun to depreciate amid policy framework concerns.

Sri Lanka showcased a national pavilion at JATA Tourism Expo 2025 in Nagoya with 15 Sri Lankan tourism stakeholders participating. As of September 2025 Sri Lanka recorded 28,799 tourist arrivals from Japan, a 29.4% year-on-year increase.

Hayleys PLC (Hayleys Plantations) signed an MoU with Solidaridad Network Asia and Nucleus Foundation to expand regenerative agriculture and carbon insetting across its estates, aiming to generate verified Carbon Removal Units. Kelani Valley, Talawakelle and Horana estates will scale regenagri protocols, digital tools and traceability to meet global sustainability rules.

Average coconut prices at a weekly auction fell 5% for the third consecutive week to 128,060 rupees per 1,000 nuts; nuts offered fell to 302,679 and nuts sold to 214,469 week-on-week.

Sri Lanka Tourism, with the Embassy in The Hague, showcased the country at the Embassy Festival in The Hague, drawing strong visitor interest and highlighting the Netherlands as an important source market. The event attracted over 70,000 visitors, and 54,762 arrivals from the Netherlands were recorded YTD to 23 Oct 2025.

Hayleys Plantations (Hayleys PLC) signed an MoU with Solidaridad and Nucleus Foundation to expand Regenagri® regenerative agriculture and carbon insetting across its estates, rolling the programme out at Kelani Valley, Talawakelle and Horana to boost sustainability, traceability and CRU generation.

Sri Lanka's Board of Investment is seeking to fix the removal of the SVAT system that now charges VAT on locally produced inputs, which is discouraging backward integration and raising cashflow and interest costs for apparel and tea exporters. BOI has submitted a budget proposal and is engaging the tax authority to address the issue.

Dividend · Rs 0.60 · XD Nov 4, 2025

Final dividend of LKR 0.6/share; XD 2025-11-04; record 2025-11-05; payable 2025-11-24; FY ended 31st March 2025

Watawala Plantations PLC (WATA.N0000) saw its tea ad campaign targeted by a coordinated political disinformation campaign, prompting the brand to remove the main post. Independent tracking showed rapid, inorganic amplification via fake accounts and politically affiliated pages.

Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports rose 15.02% to $1,163.66m in September 2025, with Jan–Sep exports up 7.59% to $10,240.52m. Apparel exports rose 1.53% to $425.07m, tea exports rose 17.06% to $137.00m, and coconut-based exports rose 72.03% in September.

Sri Lanka's export sector earned US$12,986.52 Mn in Jan–Sep 2025, up about 7% year‑on‑year. Merchandise exports rose 7.59% to US$10,240.52 Mn and services grew ~4.49% (US$2,746.03 Mn), led by gains in tea, coconut, apparel, ICT/BPM and food & beverages.

Nihal Senaratne, Chairman of Senaratne Insurance Brokers Ltd., was honoured by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) of London with a lifetime contribution commendation, recognising his 72-year career and contributions to Sri Lanka’s insurance profession.

Sri Lanka earned $1.16 billion from tea exports in Jan–Sep 2025, almost 10% higher than the same period a year earlier. Export volumes rose to 198.3 Mnkg (up 9% YoY), FOB value averaged ~$5.86/kg and value-added share increased to 58%.

The Sri Lanka–Greater Mekong Business Council held its 14th AGM and elected Nimal Ratnayake (Lanka Hospitals) as President for 2025–2026; committee seats went to firms including Aitken Spence Travels and Hayleys Advantis as the council promotes trade, tourism and sectoral collaboration (textiles, tea, IT, healthcare).

Kotagala Plantations (KOTA.N0000) said its rights issue to raise Rs.761.6m (84.6m shares at Rs.9) was oversubscribed with Rs.776.4m in subscriptions. The share closed at Rs.9.80 and NAV per share was Rs.7.48 as at end-June 2025.

Thailand's counselor highlighted the Sri Lanka–Thailand FTA as a milestone, citing opportunities in food, agriculture, tourism, healthcare and IT. The Sri Lanka–Greater Mekong Business Council held its 14th AGM and elected Nimal Ratnayake as President for 2025–2026.

95 of 662 registered Sri Lanka tea factories were non-operational, leaving 567 operational; the minister said 16 factories were reopened and six closed this year. Reasons given include a factory fire, administrative faults and worker shortages, with district-level counts provided.

Sri Lanka could extend Geographical Indication (GI) protection to king coconuts, cashew and handicrafts following GI certification of Ceylon tea and cinnamon; studies on king coconut and cashew are underway to establish origin and quality standards.

Aitken Spence PLC has partnered with the Sri Lanka Air Force on the “Clean Today – Green Tomorrow” environmental programme, hosting SLAF visits to its hotels and plantations as part of a 5–6 month initiative to promote sustainable practices and support several UN SDGs.

Hayleys bought a 40% stake in Harischandra Mills, a deal that added Rs2.58bn to turnover and sent Harischandra shares up 50% to Rs7,424.50. Maharaja Foods declared a 10 cent dividend and plans a rights issue to raise Rs112.5mn, while Kotagala Plantations said its rights issue was oversubscribed (Rs76.42mn).

Rights issue · 1:4 at Rs 9.00 · XD Sep 17, 2025

Sri Lanka has submitted an application to the European Commission for Geographical Indication (GI) certification for Ceylon Tea after a four-year programme supported by a €1m AFD grant to combat imitation and secure premium export prices. The move aims to protect authenticity and support producers and rural communities.

TRI urged climate-resilient cultivation and Geographical Indication (GI) certification to future-proof Sri Lanka's tea sector, noting production was about 262 million kg to 2024 with a target of 400 million kg. It recommended measures such as cultivar selection, micro-irrigation, intercropping and digital traceability to address climate risks and improve market value.

Tea auction prices plunged about 100 rupees/kg over two weeks as buyers cut purchases after exporters must pay VAT upfront under IMF-driven SVAT changes, raising unsold catalogues from under 800 to c.1,256–1,258. Officials say quick VAT refunds could restore buying but financing costs will be passed to producers.

IPS says Sri Lanka must convert its cyclical post-crisis rebound into structurally driven growth, noting H1 2025 GDP growth of 4.9% and urging reforms in land, labour and trade to boost productivity. It highlights technology and digitalisation as key enablers but flags low computer literacy (39%; 17.9% in the estate sector) and calls for investment in digital access.

Sri Lanka's paddy production for the 2025 Yala season is forecast at 2.21 million mt (up 11.9% y/y) and 2025 paddy output is forecast 4.96 million mt (up 5.5%); coconut rose 17.8% in August while tea, fish and rubber production declined, the central bank said.