Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports topped US$ 1,001.9 million in January this year.
Export earnings from tea in January 2023 which made up 12% of merchandise exports, increased by 9.14% y-o-y to US$ 99.56 Mn. All sub categories under tea sector; tea packets (8.1%), bulk tea (7.18%), tea bags (18.31%) and instant tea (67.38%) recorded increases in January 2023 compared to January 2022.
Export earnings from the electrical and electronics components increased by 6.44% y-o-y to US$ 38.18 mn in January 2023with strong performance in exports of other electrical and electronic products (16.06%).
However, export earnings from apparel and textile have decreased by 17.74 % y-o-y to $ 423.13 million in January 2022 with poor performance in exports of apparel (-18.79%) and textiles (-3.58%).
Also, export earnings from rubber and rubber finished products have decreased by 12.89 % y-o-y to US$ 75.89 million in January 2022.
Export earnings from seafood decreased by 13.15% to US$ 20.94 mn in January 2023compared to January 2022. However, export earnings from Ornamental fish increased by 23.6% to US$ 2.2 mn in January 2023 compared to January 2022.
Except the UAE, other markets out of top 15 export markets recorded negative performance in January 2023.
During January 2023, exports to the United States of America, Sri Lanka’s single largest export destination, decreased by 13.71 % to US$ 254.78Mn compared to the month of January 2022.
Exports to United Kingdom as the second largest trading partner declinedby4.61 % to US$ 77.42 mn in January 2023 compared to January 2022.
Exports to the European Union (EU) which comprised 20% of Sri Lanka’s exports decreased by 18.04 % y-o-y to US$ 202.23 mn. 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$ 48.12Mn (decreased by 20.07%), Italy US$ 46.21Mn (decreased by 7.0%), Netherlands US$ 26.55Mn (decreased by 31.36 %), Belgium US$ 19.57Mn (decreased by 21.03%) and France US$ 17.89Mn. (decreased by 23.9%).