Earnings from merchandise exports increased by 5.75% y-o-y to US$ 1,093.98 mn in September 2022 as per the data released by the 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.
Major exports in September 2022
Major product sectors except coconut based products; apparel and textiles, tea, electrical and electronic components, spices and concentrates diamonds, gems and jewellery, food and beverage, ornamental fish and other export crops recorded increased exports in September 2022.
Exports of apparel and textiles increased by 5% y-o-y to US$ 479.88 mn in September 2022. The increase was driven by 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 mn. 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 and retreated rubber tyres and tubes (-4.67%) and export of industrial and surgical gloves (-39.12%).
Export earnings from the electrical and electronics components increased by 42.13% y-o-y to US$ 57.27 mn in September 2022 with strong performance in exports of insulated wires and cables (42.13%) and other electrical and electronic products (45.56%).
Export earnings from seafood decreased by 25% to US$ 16.95 mn in September 2022 compared to September 2021.
Except shrimps and 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 mn in September 2022 compared to September 2021.
In addition, export earnings from spices and essential oils increased by 9.29% to US$ 40.84 mn in the month of September 2022 compared to 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 fiber products categorised under the coconut based products decreased by 11.95% and 11.62% in September 2022 compared to September 2021.
Major Exports from January–September 2022
For the period January-September 2022, merchandise exports increased by 11.83% to US$ 9,996.19 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, electrical and electronic components, gems and jewellery, food and beverages and other export crops recorded increased exports. Apparel and textile exports increased by 17.61% to US$ 4,562.67 mn during the period of January to September 2022 compared to the same period of 2021.
Except made-up clothing accessories (-9.36%), yarn (-13.5%) and made-up textile articles (-2.94%); exports of other sub categories of apparel and textiles sector increased.
Export earnings from Rubber and Rubber finished products decreased by 2.18% to US$ 787.87 mn in January – September 2022 compared with the same period of 2021 attributed to lower exports of Industrial and surgical Gloves (-20.87%).
However, exports of pneumatic and retreated rubber tyres and tubes increased by 7.26% during the period of January to September 2022 compared with the same period of 2021.
Earnings from export of Electrical and Electronic Components (EEC) increased by 16.08% to US$ 488.67 mn. Export of insulated wires increased by 18.55. Export of printed circuits, switches, boards and panels, electrical transformers and other electrical and electronic products increased by 43.43%, 6.04%, 10.32% and 15.16%.
Export earnings from seafood increased by 9.17% to US$ 205.31 mn due to the better performance in all the sub categories except lobsters; frozen fish (4.24%), fresh fish (23.34%) and prawns (18.18%).
Earnings from export of ornamental fish increased by 12.27% to US$ 15.55 mn.
Export earnings from coconut and coconut based products expanded by 4.9% to US$ 638.58 mn. Earnings from all the major categories of Coconut based products increased from January–September 2022 compared to 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 5.27% to US$ 937.14 mn. Exports of all the subcategories of tea sector except tea bags; tea packets (-5.87%), bulk tea (-5.15%,), instant tea (-17.37%) and green tea (-48.96%) decreased.
Export earnings from Spices and Essential Oils decreased by 14.21% to US$ 275.24 mn due to the poor performance in all the sub categories; cinnamon (-1.28%), pepper (-17.0%), cloves (-57.46%), nutmeg and mace (-9.72%), cardamom (-64.29%) and essential oils (-27.52%).
Sri Lanka’s export performance in major markets
Strong export growth recorded for top 15 export markets in the period of January to September 2022.
The single largest export destination of the United States of America recorded exports to the value of US$ 2,582.91 mn– a significant year-on-year increase of 18.73% in comparison to US$ 2,175.46 mn recorded in 2021.
Exports to the United Kingdom as the second largest trading partner recorded an increase of 11.68% to US$ 758.93 mn.
Exports to FTA partners
During the period of January to September 2022, exports to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners accounted for 7% of total merchandise exports with an increase of 10.25% and amounting to US$ 700.53 mn.
Although exports to India have increased by 13.24% y-o-y to US$ 642.03 mn, exports to Pakistan have decreased by 14.59% to US$ 58.5 mn.
Growth in Exports to India was mainly supported by increased exports of Animal Feed (14.69%), Arecanuts (69.85%), Woven fabrics (77.45%) and Wood pulp (33.85%).
Sri Lanka’s export performance in the regions
The EU accounted for 22.93% of Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports.
On a region wise comparison exports to all regions except CIS countries increased during the period of January to September 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021.
From January to September 2022, the breakdown of exports to the top five EU markets which accounted for 78% of Sri Lanka’s total exports to the EU were: Germany US$ 567.93 mn (increased by 4.22%), Italy US$ 477.24 mn (increased by 13.98%), Netherlands US$ 304.93 mn (decreased by 0.35%), Belgium US$ 240.22 mn (decreased by 1.19%) and France US$ 199.88 mn. (increased by 15.2%).
Export of services
The estimated value of services exports for the period of January - September 2022 was 1,455.75 million dollars, increasing 3.8% over the corresponding period of 2021.
The services exports estimated by EDB consist of ICT/BPM, construction, financial services and transport and logistics. - EDB