New Year kevili table cost increases by 7% from 2025 to 2026

Colombo, April 9 (Daily Mirror) - The cost of ingredients required to prepare a traditional “kevili” table for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year has increased by 7.0% in 2026 compared to 2025, and by 2.5 times compared to 2019—prior to the pandemic and economic crisis.

This was revealed in an annual costing of a typical set of “Avurudu” sweetmeats published on PublicFinance.lk, Sri Lanka’s premier economic insights platform maintained by Verité Research.

Prices rose for six of the eight items included in the kevili table. The 7.0% increase recorded in 2026 was driven primarily by higher coconut oil and rice flour prices, which together accounted for nearly 80% of the total increase.

A kevili table typically includes a variety of traditional Sri Lankan sweetmeats symbolising prosperity and happiness. While variations exist across households, commonly included items are milk rice, kokis, bananas, aluwa, kevum, dodol, mun kevum, and butter cake.

The analysis was based on ingredient quantities derived from recipes by the popular YouTube channel “Appe Amma,” designed for a household of 4–5 persons. Only the main ingredients were considered in the costing; utilities such as electricity and gas, as well as spices, were excluded.

Price data was sourced directly from the Department of Census and Statistics, including its Open Market Weekly Average Retail Prices in the Colombo District for the following periods: April Week 1 (2019), March Week 3 (2025), and March Week 4 (2026).