Earnings from the merchandise exports increased by 2.25 % y-o-y to US$ 1,128.7 Mn in July 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.
Monthly Merchandize Export Performance, 2020 - July 2022 in Millions of US$
Sources: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Customs & Sri Lanka Export Development Board
Major Exports in July 2022
Major product sectors except Rubber based products, Coconut based Products and Spices & Concentrates; Apparel & Textiles, Tea, Electrical & Electronic components, Diamonds, Gems & Jewellery and Food & Beverages as shown in the table 1 below, recorded increased exports in July 2022.
Exports of Apparel & Textiles increased by 21.55% y-o-y to US$ 550.05 Mn in July 2022. The increase was driven by both Apparel and Textiles.
Export earnings from tea in July 2022 which made up 11% of merchandise exports, increased by 2.08% y-o-y to US$ 117.52 Mn. This was mainly due to the higher Export of tea packets (13.57%).
Export earnings from the Electrical & Electronics Components increased by 4.36 % y-o-y to US$ 41.18 Mn in July 2022 with strong performance in exports of Insulated Wires & Cables (8.26%) and Other Electrical & Electronic Products (15.5%).
However, export earnings from Rubber and Rubber Finished products have decreased by 7.67% y-o-y to $ 89.24 million in July 2022, with poor performance in exports of Industrial & Surgical Gloves of Rubber (-20.96%).
On monthly analysis, except shell products export earnings of kernel products and fiber products categorized under the Coconut based products decreased by 25.62% and 15.45% respectively in July 2022 compared to July 2021.
Export earnings from Seafood decreased by 48.99% to US$ 20.65 Mn in July 2022 compared to July 2021. Except shrimps, export earnings from Frozen fish and Fresh fish decreased by 59.5% and 61.36% respectively in July 2022.
Further, export earnings from Ornamental fish decreased by 72.47% to US$ 1.36 Mn in July 2022 compared to July 2021.
In addition, export earnings from Spices and Essential Oils decreased by 26.2% to US$ 33.91 Mn in the month of July 2022 compared to month of July 2021 due to the poor performance in export of Cinnamon (-17.45%), Pepper (-38.36%), Oleoresins (-4.78%) and cloves (-51.87%).
Major Exports during the period of January – July 2022
For the period of January - July 2022, merchandise exports increased by 11.8% to US$ 7,604.12 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 20.01% to US$ 3,517.44 Mn during the period of January to July 2022 compared to the same period of 2021. Except Made-up Clothing Accessories (-7.07%), Woven fabrics (-17.52%), Yarn (-1.48%) and Textile Floor Coverings (-5.88%); exports of other sub categories of Apparel & Textiles sector increased.
For the period of January to July 2022, export earnings from Coconut & Coconut based products expanded by 7.98% to US$ 501.47 Mn. Earnings from all the major categories of Coconut based products increased during the period of January – July 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021 due to the improved performance in export of Liquid Coconut Milk, Cocopeat, Mattress Fiber, Activated Carbon, Coconut Oil and Desiccated Coconut.
Meanwhile earnings from export of Electrical and Electronic Components (EEC) increased by 11.53 % to US$ 269.3 Mn in the period of January to July 2022 compared to the corresponding period of 2021. Export of Insulated wires increased by 17 % in during the period of January to July 2022 to US$ 47.62 Mn compared with the corresponding period of previous year. In addition, export of Switches, Boards & Panels, Electrical Transformers and Other Electrical & Electronic Products increased by 3.27%, 13.13% and 10.03 % respectively during the period of January to July 2022 compared with the corresponding period of previous year.
Export earnings from Seafood increased by 10.88% to US$ 162.82 Mn in the period of January to July 2022 compared to year 2021 due to the better performance in all the sub categories except Frozen Fish and Lobsters; Fresh Fish (27.96) and Prawns (67.47%).
However, earnings from export of ornamental fish marginally decreased by 1.03% to US$ 11.52 Mn during the period of January to July 2022 compared to year 2022.
Moreover, export earnings from Tea decreased by 9.24% to US$ 694.9 Mn during the period of January to July 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021. Exports of all the sub categories of tea sector except Tea Bags; Tea packets (-7.99%), Bulk Tea (-10.14%,), Instant Tea (-25.11%) and Green Tea (-35.11%) decreased during the period of January to July 2022 compared with the same period of 2021.
Export earnings from Rubber & Rubber finished products slightly decreased by 1.74 % to US$ 605.85 Mn in January – July 2022 compared with the same period of 2021 attributed to lower exports of Industrial & surgical Gloves (-16.8%). However, exports of Pneumatic & Retreated Rubber Tyres & Tubes increased by 7.26% during the period of January to July 2022 compared with the same period of 2021.
Sri Lanka’s Export Performance in Major Markets
Strong Export Growth recorded for top 10 export markets in the period of January to July 2022. The single largest export destination of United States of America recorded US$ 1,988.43 Mn worth of exports in the period of January to July 2022 – a significant year on year increase of 21.89 % in comparison to US$ 1,631.36 Mn recorded in 2021.
Exports to United Kingdom as the second largest trading partner recorded an increase of 14.59 % to US$ 602.01 Mn during the period of January to July 2022 compared with the corresponding period of previous year.
Exports to FTA Partners
During the period of January to July 2022, exports to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners accounted for 7.2% of total merchandise exports increased by 13.73 % to US$ 547.4 Mn.
Although Exports to India increased by 16.6 % y-o-y to US$ 500.75 Mn, exports to Pakistan decreased by 10.02% to US$ 46.65 Mn during the period of January to July 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021.
Increased Exports to India is mainly supported by increased exports of Animal Feed (15.8%), Arecanuts (86.64%) and Textile (35.65%) in January - July 2022.
Sri Lanka’s Export Performance in Regions
On a region wise comparison exports to all regions except CIS countries increased during the period of January to July 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021.
During the period of January to July 2022, breakdown of exports to the top five EU markets which accounted for 80% of Sri Lanka’s total exports to the EU were; Germany US$ 450.51Mn (increased by 7.83 %), Italy US$ 359.21 Mn (increased by 10.5%), Netherlands US$ 233.88 Mn (increased by 0.77%), Belgium US$ 186.35 Mn (decreased by 0.1 %) and France US$ 153.79 Mn. (increased by 14.91%).
Export of Services
The estimated value of services exports for the period of Jan-July 2022 was 1,146 Million dollars, increasing 5.39 % over the corresponding period of 2021. The services exports estimated by EDB consists of ICT/BPM, Construction, Financial services and Transport & Logistics.
Policy & Strategic Planning Division - 30.08.2022
