Tea factory worker Jacintha Malar once relied on cooking gas to prepare meals for her family, but has switched to firewood after the Middle East conflict pushed ​up energy costs and battered the country’s tea industry. Malar and her husband, a ‌tea plucker in Sri Lanka’s central hills, are among those dependent on Sri Lanka’s $1.5 billion tea industry, which employs about 2.4 million people. Workers like Malar are increasingly vulnerable to the fallout from the Middle East conflict, with ​nearly half of the country’s Ceylon Tea exports, worth about $680 million annually, going to ​the region.

Full report : Middle East conflict hits Sri Lanka’s tea industry, heightens economic strain.