C-lon Kitchen & Healthy Foods, is planning to export their flagship product, Kithul treacle and jaggery to the gulf market.
Chairman, C-lon Kitchen & Healthy Foods, Rohan Wijeweera said that these two products were introduced –to the local market as a niche product one year ago and are already exported to Australia. “Now we have secured an order from a Gulf online sales company to market these products under the tag, ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ to this segment. Our next target market is Canada and the UK.”
He said that Kithul Treacle and jaggery is made from the sap harvested directory from tappers living in border lines of the Sinharaja forest. “We have come to a forward buying agreement with around 250 tappers in this region whom we also support by paying a premium price and also by some other CSR initiatives.”
The sap is then brought to our processing plant in Piliyandala where we rep-reprocess it. Kithul treacle is known to contain polyphenols which are antioxidants, organic acids which are bioactive, amino acids that have many functions, beta carotenes that cause to produce vitamin A and ascorbic acid or Vitamin C that improves immunity. Thus, it’s known to yield as many health benefits as kithul jaggery. It prevents arthritis, improves complexion, alleviates constipation, aids weight loss and combats blood sugar. For nearly the same reasons as the kithul jaggery, kithul treacle or syrup is witnessing massive demand locally as well as internationally.
“Today the demand for Kitul products far outstrips the supply and due to lack of Sap many local manufactures add sugar and other artificial sweeteners to the products thereby diluting the health benefits of it. However we ensure not to add artificial ingredients and due to this our products are sold at a premium price from leading Super markets under the brand name, Deegayush.”
Behind the scarcity of Kithul products there are several reasons such as the shortage of tappable jaggery palms, fewer people being engaged in this industry due to the inherent risks and the profession not being accepted among the youth.---
“Also less numbers are involved in the jaggery palm plantation since the tree takes around 7 years to mature and fit for being tapped.”
Asked if he plans to pr---oduce treacle and jaggery from Palmarah he answered in the n negative. “But I am looking at ¬ making Kithul treacle and jaggery from sugarcane once again targeting the export market as well.”
He said that they are also manufacturing several immune boosters from locally sourced material. “We next plan to introduce a curd to the market.”
More details could be obtained from, [email protected]
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