How Sri Lanka’s Agricultural Exports Are Growing: Miditer’s Contribution to the Export Market

For decades, tea (bulk and value-added), coconut and coconut products, and rubber and rubber products have been the top agricultural exports from Sri Lanka. Spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and pepper are also popular exports. However, in recent years, the list of export agricultural products in Sri Lanka has grown to include more variety, and quantity.

There are several aspects that have contributed towards Sri Lanka’s agricultural export growth, among these being:

• The privatisation/acquisition of government-owned plantations, allowing companies with more capital to invest in state-of-the-art machinery and processes that enable a more efficient harvest that meets international standards.
• The liberalisation of certain trade restrictions that have put free trade policies in place to enable increased agricultural exports.
• An inclination of global market prices towards more favourable figures that support agricultural exports.
• Value addition to raw materials, thereby creating end-products that are customisable, more attractive and better suited for an array of markets across the globe.

As the world moves in a more health- and environmentally-conscious direction, the demand for sustainable and organic farming has risen significantly. As such, these have become essential requirements for most buyers and business partners to engage with agricultural producers. Bearing this in mind, more local agricultural farmers and producers have adopted processes in sustainable farming for Sri Lankan exports, and facilitated organic agricultural exports from Sri Lanka. This, in turn, has allowed more local produce and their derivatives to acquire the necessary accreditations to meet global demand, becoming a contributory factor to the Sri Lankan export market trends observed.

Game-changers like Miditer are at the forefront of agricultural export companies that are working towards Sri Lanka’s agricultural export growth. We ensure a continual contribution towards this by means of:

• Value Addition: Our value-added product range is constantly expanding. Our current agricultural exports include a range of canned and packeted (resealable) coconut products, RTD beverages, fruit products, baby food, spreads, plant-based meat alternatives, nutraceuticals, and electrolyte beverages. Apart from fresh canned fruit, we also contribute to Sri Lanka’s dried fruit exports with our range of dehydrated fruit pieces in resealable packs.
• Sustainability: A core value of our business, we ensure that sustainability is maintained from seed to plate through ethical sourcing, environmental stewardship, community empowerment, and product quality and safety. We work closely with our farmers, packing stewards, and logistics providers, and empower them with the necessary information, tools and processes that guarantee an eco-friendly operation that makes our products healthy for both consumer and planet.
• Organic Products: As part of our sustainable farming practices, our farmers use a combination of traditional and contemporary organic farming methods, including natural pest control, thereby ensuring that the final product that reaches that consumer is safe for consumption.
• Safety and Hygiene Standards: Our state-of-the-art facilities enable the safe and hygienic packaging of a wide range of agricultural products. Human intervention is minimal, thus helping to preserve product quality. Our facilities follow stringent hygiene guidelines, with HACCP processes in place at our coconut facilities, and ICS procedures being followed at the fruit facilities.

Despite advances made to support the export of agricultural products, there are still some challenges faced by agricultural export companies in Sri Lanka. These include:

• Education and access to sustainable farming practices, particularly for small-scale farmers in more rural parts of the country.
• Investment/funding for acquiring suitable machinery and implementing correct, efficient, and sustainable processes.
• Investment/funding for facilities that would enable value-addition to products.
• Addressing trade barriers, to enable better access to international markets.
• Exploring and promoting lesser-used crops, to diversify our agricultural offerings to the global market.

Increased accessibility to information and equipment for agricultural farmers, manufacturers, and exporters, has fortified Sri Lanka’s ability to meet diverse demands from clients across the world, in the recent past. With appropriate support and regulation from government entities such as the Department of Agriculture and the Export Development Board, the future looks bright for agricultural export companies looking to match the global demand for sustainable and organic exports from Sri Lanka.

Miditer offers international buyers the opportunity to acquire quality agricultural products from Sri Lanka in different forms. We are happy to partner with like-minded entities that are keen to become distributors for our sustainable and organic product range, or to supply our products with white labelling or in bulk for importers who wish to sell under their own brand. Miditer also offers comprehensive R&D services to assist in product development to realise the vision of our international clients.

Contact Miditer’s liaison team to learn more about our products and services, and how we can work together to give our consumers and our planet a healthy and sustainable future.