Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is the only crop cultivated in Sri Lanka for manufacture of sugar.
[3] During the colonial occupation of Ceylon and following the lifting of the ban on the purchase of land by Europeans in 1810 and the elimination of land tax on export crops by the Governor of Ceylon, Edward Barnes in 1824, there was a period of experimentation (1823–1839) with a number of different cash crops, including sugar.
There are a number of potential reasons, primarily social and environmental, why sugar production failed to become an established industry on the island.
In the addition to sugar, about 12 million litres (3,200,000 US gal) of alcohol are productional annually at the two factories in Seveanagala and Pelwatte.
Sugarcane is the major sucrose extracting crop used for sugar production in Sri Lanka.
Due to the high temperature and dry conditions available in the Eastern part of the country, Sugarcane is an ideal crop to cultivate for sugar production.
Due to the civil war that took place in the last few decades in the country Kanthale sugar processing plant and the plantation was closed and the production has not been started yet.