Sri Lanka government issued a extraordinary gazette on 25th September controlling the price of coconut as per the length of the girth of the peeled coconut.

Accordingly, the prices are as follows:
Coconuts with girth 13 inches or above – Rs. 70
Coconuts with girth between 12 and 13 inches – Rs. 65
Coconuts with girth less than 12 inches – Rs. 60

Sri Lanka government has resorted to the control of prices of essential commodities time to time. However, with the issues related to practicality, the government often withdraws the gazettes.

Early this year, the government’s attempts to control the price of rice at Rs. 90 a kilo was changed later because the rice millers had refused to abide with it. The government was initially threatening to confiscate the mills and the rice stocks but later surrendered to the demands of the big millers.

Similarly, the government withdrew another extraordinary gazette controlling price of turmeric at Rs. 750 per kilo maximum. With the import bans on turmeric without any measure to cultivate the crop in the country skyrocketed the price. The shortage of supply has caused the price of turmeric several folds higher than the government’s controlled price in the local market.