Sri Lanka’s food production sees unsteady path
Sri Lanka’s fisheries sector, crop cultivation and animal husbandry see an unstable path with some sectors seeing a shift in production for the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year due to adverse weather and market conditions, according to the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS).
Sri Lanka’s marine fishing and marine aquaculture sector has seen a drop in growth rate of -5.2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the freshwater sector has seen a decline in growth of -34.8 per cent in the 2nd quarter of 2025.
The marine fishing and marine aquaculture activity contributed Rs. 22 billion in value added to the total GDP at constant price, and the share of the GDP was reported as 0.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2025. According to the reports from the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, coastal fish production has increased by 2.1 per cent and deep-sea fish production decreased by 13.1 per cent compared to the same quarter of 2024, resulting in an overall decrease of 5.3 per cent in marine fish production.
Freshwater Fishing contributed Rs. 3,797 million to the total GDP at constant price, representing a 0.1 per cent share in the second quarter of 2025.
Rubber production of Sri Lanka, which was once a significant contribution to exports, has seen -10.8 per cent as a result of the decline (by 12.8 per cent) in latex production. The activity has recorded a 13.3 per cent negative growth rate for the second quarter of the previous year as well.
According to the Rubber Development Department, this decline is due to the budding season and the rainy season. Usually, March and April are the budding season for rubber cultivation, and May and June are mostly rainy seasons. These reasons have caused the decline in production in this quarter. According to the Rubber Development Department, the average price received for one kilogram of latex increased by 31.2 per cent.
Growing of vegetable saw a -3.6 per cent growth rate mainly owing to the reported decline in 2024/2025 Maha production due to adverse weather conditions, in the crop forecast report, for the 2025 Yala cultivation season, expected production in up country vegetables likely to see an increase of 12.7, while low country vegetables have been forecast as a decline of 11.2 per cent. In the final reports of the 2024/2025 Maha season, which is only shared one month into the second quarter, the production was declared as a decline by 12.6 per cent.
The Growing of tea recorded a positive growth rate of 6.0 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, compared to the 8.5 per cent negative growth reported in the same quarter of the previous year. The average price of one kg of ‘Made Tea’ at Colombo auction has decreased from Rs. 1,243.54 to Rs. 1,139.55 by 8.5 per cent in this quarter, compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The low-grown tea, which has the largest market share, around 57.8 per cent of the total tea production, recorded a 2.7 per cent increase in this quarter.
Animal production activity comprises several sub-categories, viz. ‘Raising animals for meat’, ‘Dairy farming’, and ‘egg production’. This activity reported a significant growth of 13.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the second quarter of 2024.
According to the Department of Animal Production and Health, the number of slaughtered Poultry, egg and dairy production has increased by 10.9 per cent and 35.3 per cent, and 2.5 per cent, respectively, in this quarter compared to the same quarter of 2024. Also, compared to the second quarter of 2024, the producer prices of raising poultry for meat, raising cattle and raising goats, and the average price of a litre of milk have increased during this quarter. Average producer prices for an Egg have shown a considerable decrease during this period.
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