Sri Lanka's textile exports rise 3.6% in Jan-August '16

01 Dec '16

2 min read

Exports of textiles and garments from Sri Lanka increased by 3.6 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of this year, according to the data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. During January-August 2016, Sri Lanka's export earnings from textiles and garments stood at $3.333 billion, compared to $3.218 billion in the same period of 2015.

However, income from export of garments declined slightly by 2.1 per cent year-on-year during August 2016. “Exports of garments to the EU increased by 9.0 per cent in August 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, whereas garment exports to other destinations declined,” the Central Bank said in its 'External Sector Performance – August 2016' report.

Textiles and apparel accounted for about 62.72 per cent of all industrial exports made by the South Asian nation during the eight-month period.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's expenditure on imports of textiles and textile articles jumped 14 per cent to $1.764 billion in January-August 2016, as against imports valued at $1.547 billion in the corresponding period of the last year.

In August itself, the value of imports soared 42.7 per cent to $220 million over $154.2 million imports during the same month in the previous year. “The increase in import expenditure on intermediate goods was driven mainly by expenditure on textiles and textile articles, which contributed 52.4 per cent to the year-on-year increase in import expenditure in August 2016,” the report said.

In 2015, the island nation's export earnings from textiles and garments declined by 2.2 per cent year-on-year to $4.820 billion, compared to $4.929 billion in 2014. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India