Gulam Chatoor, veteran spices exporter retires after 70 years of service

Gulam Chatoor, the present Chairman of Saboor Chatoor (Private) Ltd, one of the leading spice exporters of Sri Lanka records nearly seven decades of piloting the company. To date, Gulam Chatoor continues to be one of the most knowledgeable and respected maestros in the business arena.

Chatoor founded and established the Spices & Allied Products Producers & Traders’ Association in 1984 in a bid to enable its members, comprising exporters, producers, processors, dealers, brokers, and other service providers associated with the spice industry and other such agricultural products, to make representation, with one voice to the State Authorities on policy matters relating to them and to act in unison in strategies on increasing their production and exports from Sri Lanka. The Association also instills discipline and order within the Industry.

Gulam Chatoor has been Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce from 1986-1989 and continued to be associated with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce by serving as the representative of the Spices & Allied Products Producers & Traders’ Association (SAPPTA) on the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Committee since 1975.

In 2017 with his bountiful knowledge and fascinating tales of Ceylon’s spice history he wrote and launched a book, The Spic(e)y Story. The book details Ceylon’s variety of spices, the struggles, triumphs, and the gradual improvements the industry saw over time.