Sri Lankan textile & garment exports up 9.6% in July 2017

“Garment exports to the EU market increased by 10.6 per cent year-on-year to $188 million in July 2017 signalling the positive impact of the restoration of the GSP+ facility in May 2017,” the central bank said. During the month, garment exports to the US and non-traditional markets also grew by 7.9 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively.

“Import expenditure on textiles and textile articles increased by 19.7 per cent in July 2017 with higher expenditure on fabrics and fibres indicating the likelihood of increased exports of textiles and garments in the period ahead,” the report added.

Cumulative textile and garment exports for the first seven months of 2017, however, showed a decline of 3.1 per cent and totalled $2.850 billion compared to exports of $2.940 billion in the same period of last year, the central bank data showed.

During January-July 2017, clothing exports alone accounted for $2.685 billion, down 3.5 per cent year-on-year.

Textiles and apparel constituted 59.09 per cent of earnings received from all industrial exports made by the South Asian nation during the seven-month period, the data showed.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s expenditure on imports of textiles and textile articles remained stable at $1.544 billion in January-July 2017.

Sri Lanka earned $4.884 billion in textiles and apparel exports in 2016, registering a growth of mere 1.3 per cent year-on-year. Of this, clothing exports alone accounted for $4.602 billion, up 1 per cent over previous year’s earnings of $4.555 billion. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India