All producer stakeholders issued a unified warning against the devastating impact the latest increase will have on the plantation sector, leading crippling operational challenges, ultimately leading to severe economic instability for the nation, The Planters’ Association of Ceylon stated..

“This decision was made without proper consultation or consideration of the needs of all industry stakeholders. In particular, it fails to provide any consideration and threatens to cripple every segment of the Sri Lankan tea and rubber industry.

This current effort to force such a clearly unsustainable mandatory minimum wage on tea and rubber smallholders and the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCS) is impossible for the industry to absorb, even with radical cuts to basic operational necessities.