Sri Lanka's textile exports earn $5.596 bn in 2019

20 Feb '20

2 min read

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Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garments exports increased by 5.2 per cent year-on-year to $5.596 billion in 2019, according to the statistics released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Exports of textiles were up 9.3 per cent to $284.3 million, while garment exports rose 4.9 per cent to $5.205 billion. Exports of other madeup textile articles fetched $106.7 million, registering an increase of 10.2 per cent.

Imports of textiles and textile articles were up by 1.8 per cent to $2.909 billion, while clothing and accessories imports fell 11.3 per cent to $275.1 million during the year.

In December 2019, Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garment exports remained positive and the island nation earned $483.2 million from textiles and clothing exports, registering a decrease of 2.1 per cent over exports of $493.4 million during the same month of 2018. Lower textiles and garment exports were "due to dampened demand from the EU and the US, despite an increase recorded in exports to non-traditional markets such as Canada, Australia and China," the central bank said in its report ‘External Sector Performance – December 2019’.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s expenditure on textiles and textile articles increased in December 2019 by 2.8 per cent year-on-year to $248.3 million, and clothing and accessories imports were down by 10.7 per cent to $24 million. “Expenditure on textiles and textile articles increased, led by higher fabric and fibre imports,” the central bank said.

In 2018, Sri Lanka earned $5.317 billion in textiles and apparel exports, registering a growth of 5.7 per cent year-on-year. Of this, clothing exports alone accounted for $4.960.8 billion. On the other hand, imports increased by 4.9 per cent to $2.858 billion.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)