Apparel export earnings hit record US$ 5.3bn mark

Apparel industry targets 6 percent YoY growth in exports for this year, moving ahead with plans to set up a 200-acre fabric park with foreign investments

Sri Lanka earned record US$ 5.3 billion with a 5.1 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in apparel export earnings for 2019 despite slight decline in export earrings in December, according to Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) data. 

Sri Lanka’s apparel export earnings have declined by 1.71 percent (YoY) to US$ 460 million in December due to a slowdown in key EU and US markets. 

The retail sales in Sri Lanka’s largest apparel market, United Kingdom (UK) remains sluggish over Brexit. 

Apparel exports to EU in December have declined by 6.38 percent YoY to US$ 176 million while apparel exports to the US recorded a marginal decline of 0.9 percent YoY to US$ 216 million.

However, the decline in key markets were somewhat offset by the other markets as exports to such markets grew by nearly 10 percent YoY to US$ 68 million in December. 

On cumulative basis, apparel exports to EU grew by over 5 percent YoY to reach US$ 2.2 billion while exports to the US recorded a growth of 3.3 percent YoY to US$ 2.3 billion in 2019.
Exports to other markets such as Canada, UAE, Australia, Japan etc. grew faster than to US and EU markets at 11.63 percent YoY to US$ 734.5 million in 2019.

The country’s apparel industry targets 6 percent YoY growth in exports for this year, moving ahead with plans to set up a 200-acre fabric park with foreign investments in collaboration with the Board of Investment (BOI) in the Eastern province, eyeing to attract large-scale orders by reducing lead times with locally-sourced fabrics. 

Sri Lanka’s apparel industry has been targeting to diversify its export base in BRIC countries, particularly to India and China, as growth in mature clothing markets has slowed down. 

Industry leaders emphasise that the proposed FTA with China and the Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA) with India are crucial to break into the Chinese and Indian markets. 

However, Sri Lanka’s FTA negotiations have come to a standstill at the moment. 

Last year, apparel exports topped US$ 5 billion for the first time in the country’s history. 

Apparel and textile industry contributes 6 percent to Sri Lanka’s GDP while accounting for 40 percent of the country’s total exports.