Sri Lanka’s Food Production sees Unsteady Path

• Fishing industry sees negative growth  
• Animal products see the highest growth rate  
• Deep-sea fish production decreased by 13.1 per cent
• Low country vegetables have been forecast as a decline of 11.2 per cent
• Growing of tea recorded a positive growth rate of 6.0 per cent in the second quarter
• Vegetable industry sees negative growth, compared to positive growth in previous year 

By Huzefa Aliasger  

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.