2020 is here and Sri Lankan garment industry has some big plans for the year!
Besides, aiming for a 6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) export growth in the new year, the industry is all set to build a 200-acre fabric park.
The objective of building the park, which will be in partnershipith the Board of Investment (BOI), is to shorten the lead times using locally sourced fabrics and thereby attract foreign investors.
The country’s garment exports rose by 5.8 per cent YoY (US $ 4.8 billion) in the first 9 months of 2019 and therefore 6 per cent export target for 2020 seems attainable.
This was confirmed by Joint Apparel Association (JAAF), Sri Lanka.
While speaking to media, Rehan Lakhany, Chairman, The Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association, said “We are expecting growth to be around 6 percent overall for 2020, equally from both the US and EU markets.”
The Chairman added “The industry expects a significant growth once the fabric park comes up in Eravur, as we can then source fabrics locally, reducing our lead times, instead of importing from overseas, especially from India and China. This is our main target for the year.”
Notably, during January-November 2019, the US retained its position as Sri Lanka’s top garment importer. Sri Lanka’s garment exports to the US grew by 3.76 per cent YoY during the period to touch US $ 2.1 billion, whereas the garment exports to the EU grew rapidly at a rate of 6.13 per cent YoY to exceed the US $ 2 billion mark.
