Employees of Pyramid Lanka Pvt sit around chatting with each other – most of the time -while stocks lie unused at the factory at the Kerawalapitiya Industrial Zone at Muthurajawela, north of Colombo.

Pyramid is among 10 factories that produce Hydrogenerated vegetable oil (commonly known as Vanaspati) for the Indian consumer markets that have been closed for several weeks due to a trade dispute between India and Sri Lanka.

“The total commercial loss per month alone is a staggering Rs 312 million rupees with an additional loss of another 50 million incurred in terms of fixed cost and payment of salaries,” S. A. P. Suriyapperuma, director of Pyramid Lanka Pvt said.

The factories are incurring additional costs in reprocessing already produced Vanaspati products as the shelf life of the product is running out while it remains in the factories and the port. (CD). Pix by Athula Devapriya