Sri Lanka's batik, handloom, apparel industry targets $6 bn in exports

16 Mar '21

2 min read

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Sri Lanka’s batik, handloom and apparel industry has set an export target of $6 billion for 2021. “In 2020, the industry faced a loss of $1.2 billion due to Covid, since the exports amounted to $5.6 billion in 2019 in comparison to $4.4 billion in 2020,” state minister handling the portfolio Dayasiri Jayasekara told a Sri Lankan newspaper recently.

The government recently decided to ban batik imports to Sri Lanka as well.

It is necessary to set up an institution to direct domestic products to foreign markets and create a strong international network through selected representatives from those countries, the minister pointed out.

The cabinet proposed to implement a programme to promote other domestic products, including batik products, handloom and apparel products through overseas showrooms and selected representatives from those countries. It also approved the proposal presented by the ministry to register a new company with cent per cent shares in Lanka Salusala Ltd.

The ministry claimed the 1 million metres of handloom currently woven in the country will be increased to 100 million metres within a year. This will support 200 villages and involve the revamping of weaving centres.

Private-public partnerships will play a critical role in knowledge transfer, which will be facilitated by Professionals Without Borders, where the expertise of strategy, finance, project management, marketing, branding, lean manufacturing, and digital marketing will be fed into the Ministry at no extra cost.

“Nine fabric parks will be established for franchising Laksala and Salusala in Sri Lanka and targets to promote handloom to China, India, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States,” he was quoted as saying.

The ministry plans to create infrastructure facilities for nine provinces and renovate 14 textile training institutes.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)