Sri Lanka’s apparel exports to US, EU decline

Sri Lanka’s apparel sector exports have gone through tough phase – from positive in H1 to negative in the next two months of the current year. In the first eight months, country’s apparel exports to the US plunged (-) 0.90 per cent to US $ 1.17 billion from US $ 1.18 billion last year. The quantity also came down (-) 2.84 from 321.8 million square metres to 312.7 million square metres.

In the first seven months, apparel exports of Sri Lanka to the European Union also dropped (-) 5.99 per cent from Euro 934.47 million in 2015 to Euro 878.45 million in 2016. While the woven sector declined by (-) 11.8 per cent, the knitted registered a decline of (-) 1.34 per cent.

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However, the country’s exports, which are small in volume, to Canada continued to rise at a decent pace. In the first eight months, the value of exports was up 8.93 per cent. While the country saw 11.10 per cent growth in woven category, in knitted segment it registered growth of 7.36 per cent.