Sri Lanka: According to official media citing a top government regulator, Sri Lanka's tea exports will generate USD1.3 billion in 2021. According to sources, Jayampathy Molligoda, chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB), the tea industry's primary regulatory and administrative authority, stated that exports had topped USD1.2 billion by the end of November and will exceed USD1.3 billion by the end of 2021.

According to the state-owned Daily News, the tea business in Sri Lanka employs 500,000 smallholders, 135,000 estate workers, roughly 20 regional plantation corporations, 590 tea factories, and 280 tea exporters.

Molligoda, speaking at the anniversary of the Colombo Tea Auction's adoption of an e-auction system, noted that the digital technology had helped to stabilise prices. According to the Ministry of Finance, tea exports brought in USD1.2 billion in 2020, accounting for 12 percent of overall export earnings. Tea cultivation is one of Sri Lanka's key sources of foreign exchange. It employs nearly 1 million people on tea plantations and estates, either directly or indirectly.

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