Employees of Lanka Sugar, Sri Lanka’s largest sugar producer, have raised serious concerns about a deepening crisis in the local sugar industry, warning that it is on the verge of collapse due to the growing dominance of imported white sugar in the market, reported local media Lankaweb.
They point to two major challenges: unfairly low prices and shrinking market share for locally produced sugar, which they say are pushing the industry toward closure.
Lanka Sugar Private Limited is a fully state-owned company that plays important role in Sri Lanka’s sugar needs. It directly manages the Sevanagala and Pelwatte sugar factories, while the Athimale factory is privately owned, and the Hingurana factory operates under a semi-public structure.
Farmers and factory workers say that the company’s operations are under threat, primarily because local sugar cannot compete with the cheaper imported white sugar flooding the market. They note that over 35,000 metric tonnes of local sugar are now stuck in storage due to poor sales.
The situation has been made worse by the removal of import duties on white sugar, which they argue gives an unfair advantage to foreign suppliers and further depresses demand for domestic production.
Workers from Lanka Sugar and other local sugar producers are sounding the alarm, warning that if the current conditions continue, the closure of local factories is imminent. This, they say, would affect more than 9,000 employees and impact the livelihoods of over 100,000 dependents.
They are calling on the government to set a fair price for locally produced sugar and introduce regulations to manage sugar imports in order to protect the country’s sugar sector and the many families that rely on it.
