Sri Lanka's textile exports dip marginally in Jan-July '15

29 Sep '15

2 min read

Textiles and garments exports from the island nation of Sri Lanka showed a marginal decline of 0.3 per cent in the first seven months of the current year, data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka showed.

From January-July 2015, textiles and garments exports earned $2.818 billion for Sri Lanka, compared to $2.827 billion fetched during the corresponding period of the last year, the data showed.

Textiles and apparel accounted for about 58.4 per cent of all industrial exports and about 44.4 per cent of all exports made by the South Asian nation during the seven-month period.

However, continuing with the downtrend witnessed in June, textile and garment exports fell marginally by 0.3 per cent year-on-year in July 2015. “This was mainly due to the decline in garments exports despite the growth of 34 per cent recorded in textiles exports over July 2014. However, garments exports declined by 1.3 per cent, reflecting a substantial reduction in garments exports to the EU market,” the Economic Research Department of the Central Bank said in its press release on external sector performance for the month.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's import expenditure on textiles and textile articles increased by 11 per cent year-on-year to $1.393 billion, during the seven-month period. However, July imports dropped 2.7 per cent to $201 million, as against imports of $206.6 million during the same month last year.

Last year, Sri Lankan textiles and garments exports increased by 9.4 per cent year-on-year to $4.929 billion. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India