Asia and Australia 2025

Ella – Kandy

Tea plantation, Central highlands.
Although dwarfed by the services and industry sectors, agriculture, at 8% of GDP, is a major employer and domestic and export goods producer. Tea is one of the main sources of foreign exchange for Sri Lanka, accounting for 2% of GDP, adding 1.3 billion US dollars to the economy annually. The tea sector employs over one million people, a fifth of whom directly on tea plantations.
Sri Lanka is the fourth largest tea producer, and a leading exporter, at 23% of world total. It comes second to China in terms of export earnings from tea. Annual production is around 340,000 tonnes. The recent surge in global fertilizer prices is pushing the country towards an agricultural crisis, compounded by the country´s failure to execute effectively an organic agriculture initiative.
Both tea varieties, Camellia sinensis var. assamica and Camellia sinensis var. sinensis, are grown, with assamica varietal being the primary production tea variety. Kandy is the heartland of Sri Lankan tea production, with global interest in the speciality high-country-grown Nuwara Eliya teas.

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