Sri Lanka's textile exports up 5.7% in Jan-Nov '18

In November 2018, Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garment exports remained positive and the island nation earned $469.8 million from textiles and clothing exports, registering an increase of 10.7 per cent over exports of $424.3 million during the same month of 2017. “Export earnings from textiles and garments increased marginally in November 2018 due to higher earnings from textile exports despite the slight decline registered in garment exports,” the central bank said in its report ‘External Sector Performance – November 2018’.

“The reduced earnings from garment exports was mainly driven by the lower demand from the US, despite an increase in exports to the EU market and non-traditional markets such as India, Canada, Japan and Hong Kong,” the report added.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s expenditure on textiles and textile articles decreased in November 2018 by 2.1 per cent year-on-year to $245.7 million, whereas clothing and accessories imports were down 9.7 per cent to $23.2 million. “Import expenditure on textiles and textile articles increased mainly due to higher imports of fabric and yarn,” the central bank said.

In 2017, Sri Lanka earned $5.031 billion in textiles and apparel exports, registering a growth of 3 per cent year-on-year. Of this, clothing exports alone accounted for $4.739 billion. On the other hand, imports increased by 0.7 per cent to $2.724 billion. (PC)

ALCHEMPro News Desk – India