Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage says that Sri Lanka will NOT accept the Chinese vessel with fertilizer containing harmful pathogen. He also says that another sample test from the stock of fertilizer in the vessel will not be carried out and a payment will not be made.

Recently, The Ceylon Fertiliser Company Limited obtained an enjoining order from the Commercial High Court against the Chinese company; Qingdao Seawin Biotech, its local agent and the People’s Bank. The enjoining order has prevented the People’s Bank from making any payment under a Letter of Credit opened in favour of the Chinese company, Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co., Ltd.

The National Plant Quarantine Services had tested the sample sent to them and had confirmed the presence of organisms, including certain types of harmful bacteria.

The consignment is a partial shipment worth more than a billion rupees that was procured through a tender process initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture.