Merchandise exports up 10% in August | Sunday Observer

Merchandise exports up 10% in August

2 October, 2022

Earnings from merchandise exports increased by 10.24% y-o-y to US$ 1,213.7 mn in August 2022 as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs. This was mainly due to the increase in earnings from the export of apparel and textiles.

Major exports in August

Major product sectors except coconut based products; apparel and textiles, tea, rubber based products, electrical and electronic components, spices and concentrates diamonds, gems and jewellery, food and beverages, seafood and ornamental fish recorded increased exports in August 2022.

Exports of apparel and textiles increased by 15.03% y-o-y to US$ 565.37 mn in August 2022. The increase was driven by Apparel.

Export earnings from tea in August 2022, which made up 11% of merchandise exports, increased by 6.52% y-o-y to US$ 124.41 Mn. This was mainly due to the higher Export of tea packets (11.42%).

Export earnings from rubber and rubber finished products have increased by 8.11% y-o-y to $ 99.83 million in August 2022, with better performance in exports of pneumatic and retreated rubber tyres and tubes (24.03%).

Export earnings from the electrical and electronics components increased by 14.03 % y-o-y to US$ 41.86 mn in August 2022 with strong performance in exports of insulated wires and cables (8.49%) and other electrical and electronic products (24.41%).

Export earnings from seafood increased by 37.04% to US$ 25.53 mn in August 2022 compared to August 2021. Except for shrimp and lobsters, export earnings from frozen fish and Fresh fish increased by 69.88% and 56.39% in August 2022. Export earnings from ornamental fish increased by 140.63% to US$ 2.31 mn in August 2022 compared to August 2021.

Export earnings from spices and essential oils increased by 0.8% to US$ 40.11 mn in August 2022 compared to August 2021 due to the better performance in the export of cinnamon (24.84%) and essential oils (2.31%).

On monthly analysis, except shell products export earnings of kernel products and fiber products categorised under the coconut based products decreased by 10.79% and 7.55% in August 2022 compared to August 2021.

Major exports from January –August 2022

For the period of January - August 2022, merchandise exports increased by 12.04% to US$ 8,853.Million compared to the corresponding period of 2021. Major product sectors except tea, rubber-based products and spices and concentrates; apparel and textiles, coconut based products, electronics and electronic components, gems and jewellery, food and beverages and seafood recorded increased exports.

Apparel and textile exports increased by 19.3% to US$ 4,082.81 mn during the period of January to August2022 compared to the same period of 2021. Except Made-up clothing accessories (-9.8%), knitted fabrics (-1.02%), yarn (-15.61%) and textile floor coverings (-14.35%); exports of other sub categories of apparel and textiles sector increased.

Export earnings from rubber and rubber finished products slightly decreased by 0.46% to US$ 705.7 mn in January – August 2022 compared with the same period of 2021 attributed to lower exports of Industrial and surgical Gloves (-15.79%). However, exports of pneumatic and retreated rubber tyres and tubes increased by 9.42% during the period of January to August 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021.

Earnings from export of electrical and electronic components (EEC) increased by 11.87 % to US$ 311.17 mn in the period of January to August 2022 compared to the corresponding period of 2021.

Export of insulated wires increased by 15.83% during the period of January to August 2022 to US$ 54.65 mn compared with the corresponding period of previous year.

Printed circuits, switches, boards and panels, electrical transformers and other electrical and electronic products increased by 40.65%, 3.89%, 10.89% and 11.77% from January to August 2022 compared with the corresponding period of previous year.

Export earnings from seafood increased by 13.83% to US$ 188.36 mn in the period of January to August 2022 compared to year 2021 due to the better performance in all the sub categories except lobsters; frozen fish (4.37%), fresh fish (31.47%) and prawns (47.75%).

Earnings from export of ornamental fish increased by 9.76% to US$ 13.83 mn during the period January to August 2022 compared to year 2022.

For the period January to August 2022, export earnings from Coconut and Coconut based products expanded by 6.37% to US$ 572.71 mn. Earnings from all the major categories of Coconut based products increased during January–August 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021 due to the improved performance in export of liquid coconut milk, cocopeat, brooms and brushes, mattress fiber, activated carbon, coconut oil and desiccated coconut.

However, export earnings from Tea decreased by 7.16% to US$ 819.31 mn from January to August 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021. Exports of all the sub categories of tea sector except tea bags; tea packets (-7.04%), bulk tea (-7.16%,), instant tea (-24.56%) and green tea (-31.15%) decreased during the period January to August 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021.

Export earnings from Spices and Essential Oils decreased by 17.3% to US$ 234.39 mn in the period of January to August 2022 compared to year 2021 due to the poor performance in all the sub categories; Cinnamon (-.88%), pepper (-19.29%), cloves (-58.41%), nutmeg and mace (-17.95%), cardamom (-56.52%) and essential oils (-25.53%).

Performance in major markets

Strong export growth recorded for top 10 export markets in the period of January to August 2022. The single largest export destination of the United States of America recorded US$ 2,308.75 mn in exports from January to August 2022 – a significant year-on-year increase of 21.19 % in comparison to US$ 1,905.02 mn recorded in 2021.

Exports to the United Kingdom as the second largest trading partner recorded an increase of 12.91% to US$ 682.56 mn during the period January to August 2022 compared with the corresponding period of previous year.

Exports to FTA partners

During the period January to August 2022, exports to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners accounted for 7.2% of total merchandise exports and an increase of 10.11 % to US$ 623.17 mn.

Although exports to India increased by 12.77% y-o-y to US$ 570.46 mn, exports to Pakistan decreased by 12.28% to US$ 60.08 mn from January to August 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021. 

Increased exports to India is mainly supported by increased exports of animal feed (16.42%), arecanuts (67.28%), woven fabrics (96.17%) and Wood pulp (35.39%) from January-August 2022.

Regions

On a region wise comparison exports to all regions except Asean and CIS countries increased during the period January to August 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021.

From January to August2 022, the breakdown of exports to the top five EU markets which accounted for 80% of Sri Lanka’s total exports to the EU were; Germany US$ 514.75 mn (increased by 6.93%), Italy US$ 414.26Mn (increased by 10.95 %), Netherlands US$ 274.28 mn (increased by 1.53%), Belgium US$ 215.49 mn (increased by 0.27%) and France US$ 177.78 mn. (increased by 16.4%).

Export of services

The estimated value of services exports for the period Jan-August 2022 was 1,310.05 Million dollars, increasing 5.58 % over the corresponding period of 2021. The services exports estimated by EDB consist of ICT/BPM, construction, financial services and transport and logistics. - EDB

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