Sri Lanka's textile & garment exports dip 29.6% in H1 2020

19 Aug '20

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garments exports decreased by 29.6 per cent year-on-year to $1.943 billion during the first six months of 2020, according to the statistics released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Exports of textiles dropped by 23.2 per cent to $105.9 million, while garment exports declined 32.5 per cent to $1.734 billion. Exports of other made-up textile articles fetched $103.8 million, registering an increase of 97.2 per cent.

Imports of textiles and textile articles too dipped by 23.6 per cent to $1.065 billion, while clothing and accessories imports fell 17.3 per cent to $111 million during January-June 2020.

In June 2020, Sri Lanka’s earnings from textiles and garment exports fell by 20.1 per cent to $403.7 million, compared to exports of $505.3 million in the same month of 2019. "The year-on-year decline in earnings from exports was led by industrial exports. Earnings from textiles and garments contributed the most to the decline in June 2020, on a year-on-year basis, despite the increase in earnings from personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks and protective suits, categorised under other made up articles," the central bank said in its report ‘External Sector Performance – June 2020’.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s expenditure on textiles and textile articles fell in June 2020 by 22.5 per cent year-on-year to $175.7 million, and clothing and accessories imports were down by mere 4.7 per cent to $17.5 million. “Expenditure on imports of textile and textile articles declined significantly in June 2020 led by lower imports of fabric and yarn,” the central bank said.

In 2019, Sri Lanka earned $5.596 billion in textiles and apparel exports, registering a growth of 5.2 per cent year-on-year. Of this, clothing exports alone accounted for $5.205 billion. On the other hand, imports increased by 1.8 per cent to $2.909 billion.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)