Sri Lanka's textile exports decline 31.7% in Jan-May

22 Jul '20

2 min read

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Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garments exports decreased by 31.7 per cent year-on-year to $1.540 billion during the first five months of 2020, according to the statistics released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Exports of textiles dropped by 25.8 per cent to $85.1 million, while garment exports declined 32.8 per cent to $1.411 billion. Exports of other made-up textile articles fetched $44 million, registering an increase of 2.5 per cent.

Imports of textiles and textile articles dipped by 23.8 per cent to $889.9 million, while clothing and accessories imports fell 19.3 per cent to $93.5 million during January-May 2020.

In May 2020, Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garment exports fell by a sharp 48.1 per cent to $220.1 million, compared to exports of $424.2 million in the same month of 2019.

Textiles and garments exports declined in May 2020. "However, led by a higher demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks, protective suits, surgical gloves, etc., earnings from exports of other made up articles (categorised under textiles and garments) grew significantly," the central bank said in its report ‘External Sector Performance – May 2020’.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s expenditure on textiles and textile articles fell significantly in May 2020 by 53.6 per cent year-on-year to $121.0 million, and clothing and accessories imports were down by 60.9 per cent to $8.1 million. “Expenditure on imports of textile and textile articles declined significantly in May 2020, amid global supply chain disruptions as well as low demand prospects for garment exports in the period ahead,” the central bank said.

In 2019, Sri Lanka earned $5.596 billion in textiles and apparel exports, registering a growth of 5.2 per cent year-on-year. Of this, clothing exports alone accounted for $5.205 billion. On the other hand, imports increased by 1.8 per cent to $2.909 billion.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)