Earnings from the merchandise exports increased by 10.24 % y-o-y to US$ 1,213.7 Mn in August 2022 as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs. This was mainly due to the increase in earnings from export of Apparel & Textiles.
The EDB Chairman & CE, Suresh D. de Mel, congratulates the exporters for their great effort to increase foreign exchange earnings for Sri Lanka during this critical period. He also wishes to thank the staff of the EDB and other supporting agencies for their untiring support to facilitate exports under highly disruptive circumstances.
Major Exports in August 2022
Major product sectors except Coconut based Products; Apparel & Textiles, Tea, Rubber based products, Electrical & Electronic components, Spices & Concentrates Diamonds, Gems & Jewellery, Food & Beverages, Seafood & Ornamental fish as shown in the table 1 below, recorded increased exports in August 2022.
Exports of Apparel & Textiles increased by 15.03% y-o-y to US$ 565.37 Mn in August 2022. The increase was driven by Apparel.
Export earnings from tea in August 2022 which made up 11% of merchandise exports, increased by 6.52% y-o-y to US$ 124.41 Mn. This was mainly due to the higher Export of tea packets (11.42%).
Export earnings from Rubber and Rubber Finished products have increased by 8.11% y-o-y to $ 99.83 million in August 2022, with better performance in exports of Pneumativ & Retreated Rubber Tyres & Tubes (24.03%).
Export earnings from the Electrical & Electronics Components increased by 14.03 % y-o-y to US$ 41.86 Mn in August 2022 with strong performance in exports of Insulated Wires & Cables (8.49%) and Other Electrical & Electronic Products (24.41%).
Export earnings from Seafood increased by 37.04% to US$ 25.53 Mn in August 2022 compared to August 2021. Except Shrimps & lobsters, export earnings from Frozen fish and Fresh fish increased by 69.88% and 56.39% respectively in August 2022.
Further, export earnings from Ornamental fish increased by 140.63% to US$ 2.31 Mn in August 2022 compared to August 2021.
In addition, export earnings from Spices and Essential Oils increased by 0.8% to US$ 40.11 Mn in the month of August 2022 compared to month of August 2021 due to the better performance in export of Cinnamon (24.84%) and essential oils (2.31%).
On monthly analysis, except shell products export earnings of kernel products and fiber products categorized under the Coconut based products decreased by 10.79% and 7.55% respectively in August 2022 compared to August 2021.
Major Exports during the period of January – August 2022
For the period of January – August 2022, merchandise exports increased by 12.04% to US$ 8,853. Million compared to the corresponding period of 2021. Major product sectors except Tea, Rubber-based products and Spices & Concentrates; Apparel & Textiles, Coconut based products, Electronics & Electronic Components, Gems & Jewellery, Food & Beverages and Seafood as shown in the table 1 below, recorded increased exports.
Apparel & Textile exports increased by 19.3% to US$ 4,082.81 Mn during the period of January to August 2022 compared to the same period of 2021. Except Made-up Clothing Accessories (-9.8%), Knitted fabrics (-1.02%), Yarn (-15.61%) and Textile Floor Coverings (-14.35%); exports of other sub categories of Apparel & Textiles sector increased.
