The Sri Lankan government on the advice of the Attorney General’s Department has decided to pay US $ 6.7 million to the Chinese fertilizer producer Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co Ltd for the rejected organic fertilizer shipment.
Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Minister of Agriculture said the company has been instructed to re-produce the fertilizer stock in accordance with the standards of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution.
The Sri Lankan government rejected the organic fertilizer shipment from Qingdao Seawin Biotech after tests confirmed that the stock of fertilizer contained hazardous bacteria on two occasions and denied entry to the ship carrying the 20,000 metric tons of rejected organic fertilizer.
The fertilizer ship, which had been sailing around the island for a long time, left Sri Lankan waters on the 4th December after the company has launched an international arbitration procedure.
The Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage informed the Court of Appeal on the 8th that the Chinese ship carrying organic fertilizer has informed the Sri Lankan government that the ship is leaving the Sri Lankan territorial waters.
Subsequently, on the advice of the Attorney General, the government decided to pay US $ 6.7 million to the company that owned the ship.