Sri Lanka seeks to trademark cinnamon spice success

Sri Lanka is the world's leading cinnamon supplier thanks to its centuries-old industry, whose lush, green plantations are strung along the island's southern coast where European colonists and Arab traders once flocked. But the industry says its product known the world over as ‘Ceylon cinnamon’ is being undermined by a cheaper rival called ‘cassia cinnamon’ grown mostly in China, Southeast Asia and neighbouring India. ‘It took about four years before I could get any crops from new trees and it is only now they are giving a full yield,’ Kumara, 54, said at his ancestral farm in Hikkaduwa, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Colombo. The Spice Council of Sri Lanka wants to protect the brand ‘Ceylon cinnamon’ and has approached the World Trade Organization and the European Union about gaining copyright or a patent, according to channelnewsasia.com