Sri Lanka's textile & garment exports jump in April'14

21 Jun '14

2 min read

Sri Lanka’s earnings from exports of textiles and garments jumped by 22.5 percent to US$ 336.8 million in April 2014, compared to earnings of $275 million recorded in same month last year, according to a press release on ‘External Sector Performance – April 2014’ issued by the Economics Research Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

“During the month, earnings from export of garments to the EU and to the USA increased by 22.3 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively, while a notable increase of 50.5 percent was observed in export of garments to non-traditional markets such as China, Hong Kong, Japan and Russia reflecting further diversification of export markets,” the press release said.

In April 2014, Sri Lanka’s textile and textile article imports increased by 16.6 percent year-on-year to $179.8 million. This included a significant increase in clothing and accessories imports by 72.7 percent to $22 million, according to the statement.

In January-April 2014, Sri Lanka’s textiles and garments exports surged 20.9 percent to $1.601 billion, as against exports of $1.325 billion made during the corresponding period of last year.

On the other hand, imports of textiles and textile articles increased by 8.9 percent to $708 million during the four-month period, compared to imports worth $650.4 million made during the same period last year.

In 2013, Sri Lanka’s earnings from textile and garment exports grew by 13 percent year-on-year to $4.508 billion, while its value of imports declined by 9.7 percent year-on-year to $2.045 billion.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has set an ambitious target of achieving apparel export target of $10 billion by 2016.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India