Sri Lanka's Apex Organisation for Export Promotion
As the country’s exports continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) remains confident of the future prospects of the country’s export sector, with its focus to break into premium markets.
Last year, the Export Development Board (EDB) could not hold the Presidential Export Awards for financial year 2019/2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and therefore it was held as a combined awards scheme this year.
Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports increased by 35.9% to US$ 1,160.62 Million in October 2021 compared to October 2020 as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs. Exports maintained above one billion for the fifth time this year.
The demand for organic food products is continuously increasing due to the growing interest in markets such as EU, USA, Middle East, Japan, and China. Among the producing countries, Sri Lanka maintains a reputation as a reliable producer and supplier of organic agricultural products adhering to the internationally required organic standards such as “EU Organic”, “USDA”, “JAS” etc. Even during COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Lanka has received considerable amount of orders for organic food products such as tea, spices, coconut kernel products, jack fruit products, traditional rice, kithul treacle etc. As a result, increasing the supply base of organic food products to serve the foreign orders on time is necessary to bring more foreign currency to the country. Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, and Australia are the main markets for these products. Even though our farmers/processors follow organic agricultural and processing practices, the products will not be marketed as “organic” unless it is verified and certified by a third-party-accredited certification body.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Embassy in China and the Sri Lanka Consulate General in Shanghai has made arrangements to organize Sri Lanka’s participation at the 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE),which is currently taking place at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai.
A multi-party meeting on enhancing bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was held at the Export Development Board (EDB) on 3rd November, 2021, under the patronage of the Hon. Minister of Trade, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena and High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Sri Lanka H.E Tareq Md Ariful Islam with the participation of companies that export products to Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) is planning to hold the 24th Presidential Export Awards Ceremony for the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21 on 26th November 2021 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) under the patronage of His Excellency the President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Belgium, together with the Export Development Board of Sri Lanka (EDB) promoted Ceylon tea, Sri Lanka spices and coconut-based products at the 8th edition of the INTRAFOOD trade fair in Kotrijk, Belgium on 27 to 28 October 2021.
Sri Lanka’s merchandize exports in September 2021 recorded US$ 995.8 Mn as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs.
Sri Lanka’s merchandize exports in August 2021 recorded an increase of 14.4 % to US$ 1,083.56 Mn as compared to US$ 947.2 Mn recorded in August 2020 as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs.
Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) is planning to hold the 24rh Presidential Export Awards Ceremony for the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21 on 26th November 2021 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) under the patronage of His Excellency the President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Sri Lanka’s exports have surpassed the $ 1 billion mark in July after four months’ time period where the similar achievement was only recorded in March during this year.
A webinar on ‘Finding a Market for Agri Products in EU’ with a special focus on organic markets, organised by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Germany in collaboration with the Import Promotion Desk of Germany and Export Development Board of Sri Lanka was held on 29 July, with over 200 participants across large to SME Agri sector exporters.
The Export Development Board (EDB) raised concerns on the shortage of containers as a result of multiple global supply chain bottlenecks.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board in collaboration with The Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Guangzhou and the Department of Commerce of Fujian successfully organized the Fujian, China - Sri Lanka Economic & Trade Forum and Matchmaking event on 28th July 2021 via “video conference + web cast”.
The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi, India jointly organized an online briefing session with Amazon India (www.amazon.in) on 29th June, 2021, to explore the digital marketing opportunities available for the Sri Lankan exporters in the Indian market via the highly reputed e-commerce platform; amazon.in.
As per the latest statistics released by the Sri Lanka Customs, the export sector performance has been able to maintain its upward trend in June 2021 with exports increasing by 9.41 % to US$ 978.2 Mn compared to June 2020. This upward trend was evident year-on-year for the last four months.
A webinar on “EU Market Trends in Agri Products Sector” organized by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Germany in collaboration with the Import Promotion Desk of Germany and Export Development Board of Sri Lanka was held on 30 June, 2021 with a view to educating Sri Lankan exporters on trends in the processed food, natural ingredients and fresh produce sectors, who wished to enter or expand in the German and wider EU market.
Sri Lanka’s export sector performance has been able to managed its growth momentum in May 2021 with the challenges of this pandemic. “We are happy to see that export levels are reaching fast to the pre-Covid 19 levels despite the continuous multiple challenges faced by our exporters with intermittent travel restrictions and local area isolations. Maximum efforts are be taken to secure the export orders in hand while attracting new orders to the country – the responsibility of the authorities are to facilitate the exporters in every possible way to keep them operating”, Chairman, EDB.
The Consulate General of Sri Lanka to Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania together with the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and the Sri Lanka and Australia Chamber of Commerce (SLACC) organised a webinar titled – Exporting to Australia – What you need to know - on the 20th May, 2021. Kalum De Silva, President of SLACC, moderated the session. He is the founding national president of SLACC.
