Merchandise export earnings fall for fifth straight month

■ „Merchandise export earnings down 3.1% in November

„■ Cumulative merchandise exports still up by 1.7%

■ „Fall further behind US$ 20 bn overall export target for 2019

Sri Lanka’s merchandise export earnings have declined for the fifth consecutive month by 3.1 percent Year-onyear (YOY) to US$ 950 million in November last year, according to provincial export data released by the Export Development Board (EDB).

The merchandise export earnings steadily grew for 28 consecutive months up to June last year. However, merchandise export earnings have been on the decline since last July.

The cumulative merchandise exports recorded for the 11 months of last year a positive growth of 1.7 percent YOY to reach US$ 10.7 billion, backed by steady growth during the first half of the year.

The apparel & textiles sector has contributed 47 percent to the total value of merchandise exports retaining its position as the largest contributor, followed by tea (11 percent), rubber and rubber-based products (7.5 percent), coconut and coconut-based products and engineering products (5 percent) during the period under review. The apparel and textile export earnings during the period surpassed US$ 5 billion growing at almost 6 percent YOY while tea export earnings have reached US$ 1.2 billion.

Further, export earnings from rubber & rubber-based products and coconut & coconut based products stood at US$ 815 million and US$ 570 million respectively.

In the industrial export category, export earnings from engineering products and petroleum products have contributed US$ 550 million and US$ 311 million for the country’s merchandise export earnings during first 11 months of 2019.

Meanwhile, export earnings from beverages, spices & essential oils, jewellery including diamond and fish & fisheries stood at US$ 333 million, US$ 292 million, US$ 288 million and US$ 252 million respectively.

According to Central Bank (CB) data, cumulative export earnings including service exports have increased by 0.8 percent YOY to US$ 9.96 billion at the end of October last year.

The EDB initially targeted to achieve US$ 20 billion export earnings for 2019. However, Sri Lanka is now expected to fall well below the US$ 20 billion export target set for last year.

Sri Lanka recorded its highest ever export revenue of US$ 17 billion in 2018.

Sri Lanka’s top ten markets for merchandise exports for the first eleven months of 2019 were : United States (US$ 2.856 billion), United Kingdom (US$ 925 million), India (US$ 703 million), Germany (US$ 594 million), Italy (US$ 490 million), Belgium (US$ 323 million), Netherlands (US$ 270 million), Japan (US$ 263 million), UAE (US$ 256 million) and Canada (US$ 220 million).