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Fuelled by the country’s intention to reach the target of US$ 1 billion from its spice sector in 2020, Sri Lanka has listed cinnamon as a banned commodity to import.

This decision was taken after several incidents where foreign cinnamon was re-exported to several countries under entrepôt trade. While badly affecting the Ceylon cinnamon trade, this sort of re-export process is deemed non-transparent and could harm the recognition of the local spice trade.

It is also suspected that spices re-exported through the island are repacked and indicated as spices of Sri Lankan origin.

While the average annual production of Ceylon cinnamon is around 18,000 metric tons, about 15,000 metric tons are exported. The main export markets for Ceylon cinnamon are the US (13%) and Mexico (44%).