COLOMBO: Plantation Industries Minister, Navin Dissanayake said rubber and rubber value addition will result in foreign exchange earnings of about US$ 5 billion in the short run.
However, such influences being unavoidable, the minister indicated that Rubber and rubber value addition will result in foreign exchange earnings of about US$ 5 billion in the short run. Indicators were that oil prices will stabilize at current levels for about a year. Consequential to such stabilization the projected US$ 5 billion earnings were real assessments of the rubber market.
Dissanayake said that irrespective of reduced production, the recent price escalation of rubber placed Sri Lanka in the billion dollar foreign exchange earner segment in 2016. This would further improve with oil price influences gaining dollar value resulting in concomitant increases in rubber prices.
Commenting of the multi-million dollar Rigid Tyre project that was opened in Horana last week he said that it would do well for the local rubber sector. “This was a meaningful investment and a harbinger for more investments in other parts of the country as well by foreign investors”.
He said that local consumption of rubber was over 22,000 metric tonnes, but production was barely 80 percent of this figure. The production gap was bridged through imports for value addition and exports.
