Sri Lankan textile & apparel exports cross $5bn in 2017

05 Mar '18

2 min read

Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garments exports crossed the $5 billion mark in 2017, according to the recent statistics released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. This was due to a sharp 19.4 per cent increase in export earnings during December, the sixth consecutive month of positive growth for the island nation, the data showed.

In December 2017, Sri Lanka earned $470 million from textiles and clothing exports, registering a growth of 19.4 per cent over exports of $393.6 million during the same month of 2016. This was due to “increased exports to the European Union (EU) following the restoration of the GSP+ facility in May 2017,” the central bank said in its report ‘External Sector Performance – December 2017’.

Earnings from garment exports to the EU increased by 27.2 per cent year-on-year, while garment exports to the US and other non-traditional markets increased by 18.0 per cent and 14.1 per cent respectively, during December 2017.

For 2017, cumulative textiles and garments exports earned $5.031 billion, around 3 per cent more than $4.884 billion exports made during the previous year, the central bank data showed. Of this, clothing exports alone accounted for $4.739 billion, registering an increase of 3 per cent year-on-year.

Textiles and apparel constituted 58.91 per cent of earnings received from all industrial exports made by the South Asian nation during the year, the data showed.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s expenditure on imports of textiles and textile articles increased by 0.7 per cent to $2.724 billion in 2017. Clothing and accessories imports were valued at $369 million, up 0.9 per cent.

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