Sri Lanka's textile exports up 6.3% in Jan-October 2019

21 Dec '19

2 min read

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Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garments exports increased by 6.6 per cent year-on-year to $4.628 billion in the first ten months of 2019, according to the statistics released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Imports of textiles and textile articles were up by 1.4 per cent to $2.404 billion, while clothing and accessories imports fell 11.4 per cent to $230.6 million during the ten-month period.

In October 2019, Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garment exports remained positive and the island nation earned $441.6 million from textiles and clothing exports, registering an increase of 3.5 per cent over exports of $426.6 million during the same month of 2018. “Earnings from textiles and garments increased in October 2019 following the slight decline recorded in September 2019, on a year-on-year basis, supported by higher demand for garment exports from all major markets,” the central bank said in its report ‘External Sector Performance – October 2019’.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s expenditure on textiles and textile articles decreased in October 2019 by 0.9 per cent year-on-year to $277.1 million, and clothing and accessories imports were up by 18.2 cent to $26.9 million. “Import expenditure on textiles and textile articles declined marginally, led by lower yarn and fabric 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 (PC)