Now tainted Chinese company threatens Sri Lanka over contaminated fertiliser, seeks damages

The Chinese Organic Fertiliser firm–Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co, has sent a threatening letter to Sri Lanka over the rejection of its fertiliser and seeks compensation of US$ 8 million in three days.

The letter has been sent to the National Plant Quarantine Service, which comes under the department of agriculture of the Sri Lankan government. Sri Lanka website News First has uploaded the demand letter on its website.

Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group sent the letter through its Sri Lanka-based legal representative MJS Fonseka on November 5, 2021.

The letter says that the Chinese company has suffered loss and damage to the tune of US$ 8 million and suffers further because of loss of reputation and goodwill to its current and future business.

It has squarely blamed the National Plant Quarantine Service for its losses and has sought US$ 8 million as damages. However, the Sri Lankan authorities have denied receiving any such letter, reports News First.

China and Sri Lanka, who are otherwise close in their economic and diplomatic relations, are caught in a raging slugfest over the import of organic fertiliser after Sri Lanka showed interest in the commodity worth $42 million from China.

Sri Lanka’s National Plant Quarantine Service ran a number of tests on the Chinese organic fertiliser and found that it contained dangerous pathogens and harmful bacteria which would harm not only the soil but also the crops in the island nation. Sri Lanka, which is on an ambitious drive to become an organic food nation, feels that the Chinese fertiliser would ruin the country.

However, the Chinese company is not willing to take no for an answer. Once its fertiliser ship was asked to go back, the ship switched off its tracking system around the Malacca port near Singapore. It sailed back to Sri Lankan waters under a different name.

However, Sri Lankan authorities asked the nation’s ports to not allow the Chinese ship to enter or unload its tainted fertiliser. Separately, a Sri Lankan high court also banned payment to Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group.

With Sri Lanka persisting over not taking the contaminated fertiliser, the Chinese embassy in Colombo stepped in. In retaliation it blacklisted a State-run bank–People’s Bank of Sri Lanka.

The tussle over the fertiliser has strained relations between the two countries.

(This article was first published on India Narrative)