Sunshine Tea Private Limited has come to an export agreement with a Chinese company to supply black tea to make bubble tea and market in China.
“This will further expand our export market which currently has an annual turnover in the excess of USD 25 million,” CEO, Sunshine Tea Sanjeeva Saranpala said.
He said that they are recognised as a leading exporter of Ceylon tea globally to over 40 countries, including key markets such as the US, the Far East, Europe, and the Middle East. However due to the Middle East crisis there was a dip in their tea exports to this region and they were looking for new markets. “This china export order is welcome at this juncture and would be sizable.”
Saranapala said that the recent electricity tariff reduction has given them some concessions to be more productive and they have been engaging in many R&D to increase the quality of tea and its presentations.
“We commenced operations in 1987 as SKS Exports and later changed to Sunshine Tea (Pvt) Ltd. in 1998. “Though we don’t own plantations, we have a factory with over 300 employees in Kelaniya, which was recently expanded with an investment of around Rs. 300 million recently. Today it has a Tea processing capacity of over 11 million kilos of tea per year.
“Our teabags are ‘Stapleless’ – teabags that do not use staple pins, but instead are knotted to the tags. These include our Fun Flavor Foil Envelope range which is blends of teas with unique flavor combos. The teabags are also packed in individual foil envelopes to seal in the flavor.”
Their Flagship Brands include, Zesta, Watawala and Gordon Frazer, Avan Tea, Teazup and a product range of over 200 types of Ceylon tea.
Asked to comment on the recent Rs. 1,700 minimum wage for the estate sector he said he feels that this can be cushioned by plantation companies.
“However it would have been better if the government provided some other tax relief or electricity concession for RPC’s which would help those more towards boosting their bottom line. (SS)
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