During the first nine months of this year, Sri Lanka has managed to earn US$ 10 billion from merchandise exports, the Sri Lanka Exports Development Board (EDB) said in its performance report for the month of September. Sri Lanka has managed to earn an export income of US$ 9,996.19 million during first 9 months of 2022, which is an increase of 11.83 percent compared to the US$ 8,938.49 million earned during the same period in 2021, according to the Export Development Board. Earnings from the merchandise exports increased by 5.75 % year-on-year to US$ 1,093.98 million in September 2022 as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs. This was mainly due to the increase in export earnings from Apparel and Textiles, Tea, Gems and Jewellery, Electrical and Electronic Components and Spices and Essential Oils, EDB said.
Exports of Apparel & Textiles increased by 5 % y-o-y to US$ 479.88 million in September 2022. The increase was driven by both Apparel and Textiles. Export earnings from tea in September 2022 which made up 11% of merchandise exports, increased by 11.63% y-o-y to US$ 117.82 million. This was mainly due to the higher Export of bulk tea (11.95%) and tea packets (6.98%). Export earnings from Rubber and Rubber Finished products have decreased by 16.91% y-o-y to US$ 82.19 million in September 2022, with poor performance in exports of Pneumatic & Retreated Rubber Tyres & Tubes (-4.67%) and export of Industrial & surgical gloves (-39.12%).
Export earnings from the Electrical & Electronics Components increased by 42.13 % y-oy to US$ 57.27 million in September 2022 with strong performance in exports of Insulated Wires & Cables (42.13%) and Other Electrical & Electronic Products (45.56%). Export earnings from Seafood decreased by 25% to US$ 16.95 million in September 2022 compared to September 2021. Except Shrimps & lobsters, export earnings from Frozen fish and Crabs increased by 2.68% and 94.03% respectively in September 2022. However, export earnings from Ornamental fish increased by 37.6% to US$ 1.72 million in September 2022 compared to September 2021.
In addition, export earnings from Spices and Essential Oils increased by 9.29% to US$ 40.84 million in the month of September 2022 compared to month of September 2021 due to the better performance in export of Cinnamon (14.0%) and Pepper (4.37%). On monthly analysis, except shell products export earnings of kernel products and fibre products categorized under the Coconut based products decreased by 11.95% and 11.62% respectively in September 2022 compared to September 2021. For the period of January – September 2022, merchandise exports increased by 11.83% to US$ 9,996.19 Million compared to the corresponding period of 2021.
