According to data given by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka’s exports of clothing totaled US $ 778.4 million in January–February 2023, a decline of 16.8 per cent from the US $ 935.6 million in exports during the same period of the previous year. Due to the global economic recession in February 2023, its exports of clothing fell by 14.7 per cent.
The island nation’s textile exports for the first two months of 2023 climbed by 9.1 per cent year-over-year to US $ 60.5 million. The central bank’s ‘External Sector Performance’ report states that over the same time period, exports of other made-up textile items totaled US $ 16.8 million, a decrease of 21.6 per cent.
The analysis revealed that throughout the examined period, Sri Lanka’s total industrial exports made up 54.87 per cent of textile, garment, and other made-up textile article exports. Between January and February 2023, exports of all textile items reached US $ 855.7 million. The overall value of Sri Lanka’s industrial exports in the first two months of this year was US $ 1,558.3 million.
Exports of all textile products from the South Asian country fell to US $ 431.3 million in February 2023, a 13.1 per cent year-over-year decrease. Exports of apparel fell 14.7 per cent to US $ 389.5 million as a category, while those of textiles increased 19.5 per cent to US $ 33.1 million. Other textile items were exported for US $ 8.8 million, a decrease of 27.1 per cent.
Contrarily, from January through February 2023, imports of clothes and accessories decreased by 33.8 per cent to US $ 32.2 million, while imports of textiles and textile products decreased by 41.1 per cent to US $ 383.4 million.
