{"id":379,"date":"2026-03-29T09:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T07:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/?p=379"},"modified":"2026-03-29T09:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T07:33:07","slug":"sri-lanka-urges-public-not-to-stockpile-essentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/?p=379","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka Urges Public Not to Stockpile Essentials"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <strong>Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA)<\/strong> has urged the public <strong>not to hoard essential goods<\/strong> amid fears of supply shortages. CAA Director Asela Bandara stated that consumers should avoid buying more than they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He assured the public that <strong>no shortages will occur during the festive season<\/strong>. Essential goods will remain available for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Customs spokesperson Sandana Punchihewa clarified that imports face <strong>no restrictions<\/strong>. Minor delays occur only because inspection facilities are limited. Authorities are currently expanding these facilities to reduce delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, B. Subramaniam, Secretary of the <strong>Essential Food Importers and Traders Association<\/strong>, highlighted that <strong>artificial scarcity and price hikes are driven by middlemen<\/strong>, not by actual shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Imports of pulses from Australia are expected to <strong>arrive by the end of March<\/strong>. Prices will stabilize between <strong>LKR 265\u2013270 per kilogram<\/strong> in the first week of April. Even if fuel prices rise during the festive season, essential food prices are expected to increase by <strong>no more than LKR 20<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development Minister Vasantha Samarasinha emphasized that <strong>there are no controlled prices on pulses<\/strong>, so retailers cannot intervene aggressively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the <strong>CAA will take strict action<\/strong> if traders attempt to hoard goods. Authorities have already procured <strong>90% of essential items needed for the festive season<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Officials urge citizens to <strong>buy responsibly<\/strong> and avoid panic purchases to ensure supplies remain steady across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has urged the public not to hoard essential goods amid fears of supply shortages. CAA Director Asela Bandara stated that consumers should avoid buying more than they need. He assured the public that no shortages will occur during the festive season. Essential goods will remain available for everyone. Customs spokesperson [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[427,426,429,430,431,428],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economicnews","tag-consumer-affairs-authority","tag-essential-goods","tag-food-price-update","tag-hoarding-alert","tag-pulses-import","tag-sri-lanka-supply"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":381,"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swisstamils.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}