Market Demand and Export of Non-Timber Products

Presented by

Sumudu Marasinghe

All the biological material except industrial round wood, derived sawn timber, wood chips, wood-based panel and pulp are generally considered as non- timber forest products. They may be extracted from natural ecosystems, managed plantations and other resources and be utilised within the household, social, cultural or religious significance. The non- timber forest products are defined as goods of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded lands and trees outside the forests. Non- timber products which are exported from Si Lanka are mainly tea, natural rubber, coffee, coconut and coconut based products, cocoa, spices, cashew, ayurvedic & herbal products, bamboo, rattan and cane, essential oils and resins

Sri Lanka has acquired a good demand and reputation for tea and cinnamon in the world market.  Pure Ceylon tea satisfies 19% of global tea demand and Sri Lanka has become the world's third largest tea exporter to the world market. About 96% of the total tea production in our country is exported to about 40 countries. Among those countries United Arab Emirates, Russian Federation and Jordan are the major buyers for Ceylon Tea. When it comes to Cinnamon, Sri Lanka is the world's largest producer and exporter of pure cinnamon and satisfies almost 90% of demand of the world market. Sri Lankan Cinnamon has been established in the international market under the global brand name of Pure Ceylon Cinnamon and it satisfies almost 90% of demand of the world market. USA & Mexico are the main markets and it also exported to countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Spain, Guatemala, Chile and Bolivia. Not only raw cinnamon but also value-added Cinnamon products such as oil, powder and tablets are produced and exported. And our country is in the sixth position among the global natural rubber producers. Different types of natural rubber such as ribbed smoked sheet rubber, latex crepe rubber, scrap crepe rubber and centrifuged latex are exported and rubber sector is the third largest export earner of the country. USA, Belgium, Germany, Italy and UK are the main export markets for natural rubber. And Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Japan, Germany are the main export markets for semi-processed Sri Lankan rubber. Another important category is essential oils such as Eucalyptus oil, Cinnamon leaf oil, Cinnamon bark oil and Citronella oil. Pepper, nutmeg and mace, cardamom and clove are some of the main spices which are exported from our country.

According to the Annual report of 2014 produced by Sri Lanka Export Development Board, a considerable success was achieved by all the tea products. The exports were increased in terms of both value and volume by 5.43 % and 2.35% respectively. 48.54% of total tea export earnings were gained by exporting Tea Packets and 49.10 % from exporting bulk tea. But export earnings from all categories of natural rubber were declined during the last year. Overall negative performance of natural rubber exports was -36.32%. Export earnings from coconut oil, fresh coconut nuts, coconut fibre based products and coconut shell products were increased but earnings from export of coconut powder was declined. When considering about the spices, only the exports of cardamom were increased and the exports of other spices such as pepper, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg were declined. 

Several issues in the exporting sector can be identified which inhibit the performances of the exports. Lack of policy objectives on extraction of non – timber products, lack of modern technology on extraction, lack of knowledge and attention to maintain the product quality, lack of experience and knowledge about the opportunities in the international market and competition from the other countries which have more resources and technology than our country are some of those issues. Therefore to overcome those barriers solutions should be designed and adopted such as awareness programmes for farmers to meet the international standards of the products, introducing more efficient technologies to extract the products, research and development programmes to increase the quality and purity of the products and establishing a proper database on the demand and supply of the exporting products.