‘Laksala’ which comes under the Sri Lanka Handicraft Board has secured a net profit of Rs. 100 million by selling traditional craft items to local and foreign customers during the current year.
This was disclosed by State Minister Prasanna Ranaweera at the ‘Lak Craft 2023’ opening ceremony held at the ‘Ape Gama’ craft village in Battaramulla last week.
The Minister highly expressed his gratitude to local craftsmen for their invaluable contribution to uplift our traditional craft industry. He highlighted that this is a significant achievement for local craftsmen and craftswomen.
The Minister said that with tourism picking up traditional craft items could be sold at a higher price and this would help to further boost their annual revenue.
He said during the current year world countries that are engaged in the traditional craft industry have produced items to the value of over USD 700 billion and Sri Lanka too should increase production and look at more global sales.
Hence Minister Ranaweera requested the participating craftsmen and women to produce more not only for the local market but for exports as well. Laksala Chairman Rushan Marambage said that they will soon establish a fund under the name ‘Laksala Craftsmen Fund’ with the aim of providing financial assistance to craftsmen in their old age.
“This a CSR initiative we are launching to encourage the younger generation to get involved in the industry.”
He also said that they expect to purchase Rs. 400 million worth manufactured goods from craftsmen during next year which will help to increase their income.
The objective of conducting the ‘Lak Craft’ 2003 ceremony was to felicitate 400 local craftsmen and women who produced high quality traditional craft items to fulfil the requirements of local and foreign visitors.
Ananda Kannangara