He said that the proposal to temporarily suspend spice imports was presented by the Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama.Furthermore, Bandara said that under the Orders which were taken into the debate, several taxes imposed on imported sanitary napkins would also be scrapped. Apart from a 30 percent Cess tax would be imposed on imports of polypropylene bags.

Further, he said, “14.3% of export income is from condiments but there were many issues with regard to the condiments sector especially with regard to pepper, areca nut, tamarind, nutmeg, cinnamon etc. There is a huge demand and value for Sri Lankan black pepper. Sri Lankan pepper and cinnamon is known to be the best in the world, but during the past few years the farmers growing these condiments have been facing serious difficulties and they even launched many protests drawing attention to their issues. This is a quite rightful demand. Therefore, the decision to temporarily suspend spice imports was made to protect the local spice cultivators.