Sri Lankan textile & garment exports bounce back

23 Jul '15

2 min read

After consecutive two months decline, export earnings from textiles and garments of the island nation of Sri Lanka increased by 7.6 per cent to $392.9 million in May 2015, compared to exports of $365.1 million in the same month last year, shows data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The increase in textiles and garment exports during the month reflects an increase in exports to the US and non-traditional markets such as Canada, China, UAE and Australia, said the Economic Research Department of the Central Bank in its press release on external sector performance for the month.

“However, textiles and garments exports to the EU market declined by 11.8 per cent in May 2015, continuing the declining trend observed from March 2015,” the release said.

During the month, Sri Lanka's import expenditure on textiles and textile articles increased by a significant 16.3 per cent year-on-year, mainly due to the increase in imports of fabrics such as knitted or crocheted fabric, woven fabric of cotton and tyre cord fabric.

For the first five months of 2015, Sri Lanka's cumulative textiles and garments exports stood at $1.981 billion, showing a marginal rise of 0.7 per cent over exports of $1.966 billion made in the corresponding period of last year.

Textiles and apparel accounted for about 57.7 per cent of all industrial exports and about 44.3 per cent of all exports made by the South Asian nation during January-May 2015.

On the other hand, imports of textiles grew by 10.1 per cent year-0n-year to $974.1 million during the five-month period.

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