Sri Lankan apparel exporters now join ASYCUDA network

02 Aug '13

2 min read

Sri Lanka’s non-BoI (Board of Investment) apparel exporters have now been integrated to the global network called ‘The Automated System for Customs Data Worldwide’ (ASYCUDA) World of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The country’s apparel sector has now entered a new phase and joined 84 other countries on the UNCTAD’s global electronic network.

Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka, said the country’s apparel sector would receive a significant boost because of the non-BoI apparel exporters being integrated into the online ASYCUDA World system.

The integration of non-BoI apparel exporters to the ASYCUDA World network is expected to save more than 8200 man hours to them annually.

Mr. Bathiudeen said, with the apparel sector’s entry into the ASYCUDA world, apparel manufacturers can successfully eliminate the present manual submission of custom documents (custdocs) and can directly submit custom declarations, to the Department of Customs.

The integration into the network reduces travel time, creates less bureaucracy, and less document processing by the non-BoI apparel exporters for their every single shipment.

Minister Bathiudeen said Sri Lanka’s apparel exports are recovering from the impact of the global recession, as the country’s overall garment exports which include ‘apparels and other woven fabrics’, have increased in first half of 2013 by 1.5 percent to US $ 1.994 billion, compared to the same period in 2012 which stood at US$ 1.964 billion.

The ‘apparel only’ export value totaled US$ 1.873 billion during the first half of 2013, nearly the same as US$ 1.874 billion exports made during the same period last year, he added.

ASYCUDA is a computerized customs management system which covers most foreign trade procedures. The system handles customs declarations, accounting procedures, as well as transit and suspense procedures.

The ASYCUDA software is developed in Geneva by UNCTAD. It operates on micro in a client server environment under UNIX and DOS operating systems and RDBMS Software.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India