Sri Lanka recorded its highest merchandise export income so far for this year in the month of August amid increased export earnings from textile & apparel exports, the data released by the Export Development Board showed. August merchandise exports income tops US$ 1.2bn. Apparel & textile exports up 15% to US$ 565mn. Jan-Aug. cumulative exports up 12% to US$ 8.85bn • Cumulative apparel & textile up 19% to US$ 4.08bn August became the fourth consecutive month to report over one billion dollars of export income as the month saw a merchandise export income of US$ 1.21 billion, up 10 percent from the same month in 2021. Apparel & textile exports nearly accounted for half of the export income in August, as such exports generated US$ 565.37 million, up 15.03 percent from a year ago.
Tea exports also rose 6.52 percent year-on-year (YoY) to US$ 124.41 million, while rubber-based exports rose 8.11 percent YoY to US$ 99.83 million. Diamond, gems and jewellery exports also rose 95.23 percent YoY to US$ 45.24 million in August. Seafood exports in August rose 37.04 percent YoY to US$ 25.53 percent and spice and essential oil exports edged up by 0.8 percent YoY to US$ 40.11 million. However, petroleum products exports fell 10.07 percent YoY to US$ 114.84 million while coconut-based products exports also fell 3.71 percent YoY to US$ 71.21 million. Meanwhile, for the January-August 2022 period, apparel and textile imports increased 19.30 percent YoY to US$ 4.08 billion. However, both tea and rubber cumulative export income for the period fell 7.16 percent and 0.46 percent to US$ 819.31 million and US$ 705.70 million respectively. Diamond, gems and jewellery exports rose 37.67 percent to US$ 234.83 million. During the January-August period the United States (US) emerged as the biggest export destination for Sri Lanka accounting for little over US$ 2.3 billion out of the cumulative export income of US$ 8.85 billion for the period, up 12.01 percent YoY. The United Kingdom (UK) and India were the second and third biggest buyers of Lankan produce. In terms of regions, the United States and the European Union (EU), excluding the UK, emerged as the top buyers of Lankan produce. Sri Lanka benefits from trade concessions from the US, EU and the UK. During January-August 2022 period, exports to Sri Lanka’s free trade agreement (FTA) partners accounted for 7.2 percent of total merchandise exports to US$ 623.17 million, up by 10.11 percent. Although exports to India increased by 12.77 percent YoY US$ 570.46 million, exports to Pakistan decreased by 12.28 percent YoY to US$ 60.08 million during the period under consideration. Meanwhile, the estimated value of services exports for the period of January-August 2022 was US$ 1.31 billion, up 5.58 percent YoY. The services exports estimated by EDB consist of ICT/BPM, construction, financial services and transport & logistics.
