The country had imported 17.540 million kg of fabric with average prices of $8.59 per kg in the second quarter of the previous year. The import was valued at $150.717 million in the same period. The average unit price of fabric import has witnessed a constant decline as it came down to $8.38 per kg in Q3 2022, $6.66 per kg in Q4 2022, and $5.86 per kg in Q1 2023. But it improved QoQ at $6.35 per kg in Q2 2023, according to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro. 

In volume terms, the import was recorded at 10.963 million kg in Q2 2023, 21.638 million kg in Q1 2023, 17.496 million kg in Q4 2022, 16.657 million kg in Q3 2022, 17.540 million kg in Q2 2022, and 24.762 million kg in Q1 2022. The total volume of the imports has seen a steep fall in the latest quarter. 

In terms of value, the imports from India dropped to $69.630 million in Q2 2023, from $150.717 million in Q2 2022. The trade was valued at $126.797 million in Q1 2023, $116.604 million in Q4 2022, and $139.649 million in Q3 2022, as per TexPro.

Sri Lankan fabric imports declined in the last year due to a global slowdown, which has dented garment exports across the world. Last year's domestic political unrest and fluctuation in cotton fibre also influenced fabric imports. 

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)