Sri Lanka represents an excellent opportunity for food manufacturing and processing companies looking to benefit from shifting close to the growing customer base in Asia.

Potential areas for investment

• Fruits and vegetables (Canned, frozen, juices, pre-cut and readymade salads, dried and dehydrated)
• Aquaculture
• Value added coconut products
• Value added spice products
• Canned/bottled products
• Processed food
• Confectionery and bakery products

Why you need to consider investing in this sector

• Diverse range of raw products is available for processing
• Sri Lanka has Free Trade Agreements with India, Pakistan and Singapore which provides duty free access for selected processed food products exported to these markets from Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka is a beneficiary of the GSP Plus facility offered by the European Union. Most of the processed food products have duty free/reduced duty access to the EU countries when exported from Sri Lanka.
• Companies can operate as Board of Investment (BOI) projects and benefit from incentives
• Income Tax rate applicable for export related earnings is half the general Income Tax rate
• Good domestic infrastructure