- Indian agri and manufacturing supplies to SL may face disruptions
The Government is discussing contingency measures in case India restricts or suspends exports of essential food items due to the impact of the anticipated El Niño conditions, Deputy Trade, Commerce, and Food Security Minister R.M. Jayawardena said, noting that Sri Lanka relies heavily on India for a range of food imports.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (26), he said the Government is considering what steps should be taken if El Niño affects India’s agricultural and manufacturing activity and eventually disrupts supplies to Sri Lanka. “El Niño isn’t going to affect only us. It can also affect India. There could be an impact on production activities in India as well. We import a lot of food items from India. Therefore, it’s very important to plan what we’re going to do if India, at some point, stops exports or imposes restrictions on exports.”
He said the matter had been discussed recently at a meeting chaired by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, but that no specific decision had yet been taken on what measures would be introduced. “We haven’t yet arrived at a definite decision that we’ll take this particular action. But, we’re paying attention to this issue and continuing discussions. We are having discussions on this regularly,” he said.
The Government has already been preparing for a possible disruption to domestic rice supplies by bringing forward this year’s (2026) Maha cultivation season by about a month. The Maha season normally runs from around September to March and is closely linked to the North-East monsoon.
The preparations come as the relevant institutions monitor the development of El Niño, a climate pattern associated with changes in rainfall and temperatures across different regions. The World Meteorological Organisation stated in June that there was an 80 per cent probability of El Niño conditions emerging between June and this month (August), rising to around 90 per cent for the next month (September)-December period. Most forecast models indicated that the event could reach at least moderate strength, with the possibility of becoming strong.