Sri Lanka's textile & garment exports dip in June

26 Aug '15

2 min read

After showing a positive trend in May 2015, export earnings from textiles and garments of the island nation of Sri Lanka declined in June this year.

During the month, Sri Lanka's textiles and garment exports earned $424.3 million, registering a drop of 4.9 per cent compared to exports of $446.2 million in the same month last year, data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka showed.

The decline in earnings from exports of textiles and garments was due to lower exports to EU countries despite the growth in exports to both the US and non-traditional markets, said the Economic Research Department of the Central Bank in its press release on external sector performance for the month.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's import expenditure on textiles and textile articles increased significantly by 32.6 per cent year-on-year. This reflects potential higher export demand in coming months and increased local demand for garments, the Central Bank said.

For the first half of 2015, Sri Lanka's cumulative textiles and garments exports stood at $2.405 billion, showing a marginal rise of 0.3 per cent over exports of $2.413 billion made in the corresponding period of last year.

Textiles and apparel accounted for about 58 per cent of all industrial exports and about 44.4 per cent of all exports made by the South Asian nation during January-June 2015.

On the other hand, imports of textiles grew by 13.7 per cent year-0n-year to $1.192 billion during the six-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