Tough times for apparel in 1H 2024

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Sri Lanka's apparel industry will have a tough six months ahead as a result of the dampening global demand continuing from last year.

The first half of this year will be difficult as orders have not increased and demand continues to be the same as last year, Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) Deputy Chairman Felix Fernando told the Business Times.

He explained that the demand has fallen by over 22 per cent as a result of a drop in purchasing power by customers in Europe and the US since 2023.

However, this year in the first six months they expect a slight pick-up in the European markets as some countries like Italy and Germany are said to be improving. US demand continues to drop with limited purchasing by consumers and winter too had not been good, Mr. Fernando said.

While export prices have not dropped, the excess stocks that go unsold are now fetching low prices in stores in these markets.

Buyers have been having excess stocks in the first part of last year and this has been reducing and since demand has slowed they continue to request for less orders from factories, Mr. Fernando said.

While orders for intimate wear have increased there has been a drop in demand for sportswear from customers, the Deputy Chairman of JAAF said.

In 2023 a number of SME factories and some factories of larger companies were seen closing operations and numbers of workers losing jobs.

However, this year this is unlikely to take place since the restructuring of these companies have already occurred, JAAF spokesman Yohan Lawrence said.

He noted that this year Sri Lanka is likely to see a flat performance and that last year's revenues achieved around US$4.5 billion is likely to be gained this year as well.