Merchandise export earnings in July increased to USD 1.1Bn

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Export Development Board reports that earnings from the merchandise exports increased by 2.25 % y-o-y to US$ 1,128.7 Mn in July 2022 as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs 

The EDB stated that this was mainly due to the increase in earnings from export of Apparel and Textiles.

Major product sectors except Rubber based products, Coconut based Products and Spices & Concentrates; Apparel & Textiles, Tea, Electrical & Electronic components, Diamonds, Gems & Jewellery and Food & Beverages recorded increased exports in July 2022.

Exports of Apparel & Textiles increased by 21.55% y-o-y to US$ 550.05 Mn in July 2022. The increase was driven by both Apparel and Textiles.

Export earnings from tea in July 2022 which made up 11% of merchandise exports, increased by 2.08% y-o-y to US$ 117.52 Mn. This was mainly due to the higher Export of tea packets (13.57%).

Export earnings from the Electrical & Electronics Components increased by 4.36 % y-o-y to US$ 41.18 Mn in July 2022 with strong performance in exports of Insulated Wires & Cables (8.26%) and Other Electrical & Electronic Products (15.5%).

However, export earnings from Rubber and Rubber Finished products have decreased by 7.67% y-o-y to $ 89.24 million in July 2022, with poor performance in exports of Industrial & Surgical Gloves of Rubber (-20.96%).

On monthly analysis, except shell products export earnings of kernel products and fiber products categorized under the Coconut based products decreased by 25.62% and 15.45% respectively in July 2022 compared to July 2021.

Export earnings from Seafood decreased by 48.99% to US$ 20.65 Mn in July 2022 compared to July 2021. Except shrimps, export earnings from Frozen fish and Fresh fish decreased by 59.5% and 61.36% respectively in July 2022.

Further, export earnings from Ornamental fish decreased by 72.47% to US$ 1.36 Mn in July 2022 compared to July 2021.

In addition, export earnings from Spices and Essential Oils decreased by 26.2% to US$ 33.91 Mn in the month of July 2022 compared to month of July 2021 due to the poor performance in export of Cinnamon (-17.45%), Pepper (-38.36%), Oleoresins (-4.78%) and cloves (-51.87%).

For the period of January - July 2022, merchandise exports increased by 11.8% to US$ 7,604.12 Million compared to the corresponding period of 2021. Major product sectors except Tea, Rubber-based products and Spices & Concentrates; Apparel & Textiles, Coconut based products, Electronics & Electronic Components, Gems & Jewellery, Food & Beverages and Seafood , recorded increased exports.

Strong Export Growth recorded for top 10 export markets in the period of January to July 2022. The single largest export destination of United States of America recorded US$ 1,988.43 Mn worth of exports in the period of January to July 2022 – a significant year on year increase of 21.89 % in comparison to US$ 1,631.36 Mn recorded in 2021.

Exports to United Kingdom as the second largest trading partner recorded an increase of 14.59 % to US$ 602.01 Mn during the period of January to July 2022 compared with the corresponding period of previous year.