Agriculture Sector Faces Mixed Fortunes: CBSL

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has released its Agriculture Data Bulletin for February 2025, providing key insights into the performance of various agricultural sectors.

Paddy production for the 2024/2025 Maha season, based on the sown extent as of end December 2024, is forecasted at 2.57 million metric tons, a 5.7% decline from the previous Maha season.

It added that Fish production decreased by 12.0% during the month of December, largely driven by declines in inland fishing activities.

While Domestic Tea production increased by 9.6% in December and 14.6% in January 2025,
global tea prices continued to decline.

Local rubber production grew in December 2024 by 32.4%. However, as per provisional data, production dropped in January 2025.

Coconut production experienced a significant decline of 33.1% in December 2024 and 32.3% in January 2025.

The Central Bank added that in January 2025, the market prices of many export crops such
as Pepper, Coffee, Cinnamon, Cocoa,Cardamom, Nutmeg, and Turmeric experienced an increase, while prices of Clove and Ginger registered a decline.

It added that, earnings from exports of spices increased in the month of January 2025 (y-o-y), mainly due to the strong performance in
exports of Pepper and Cloves.