Sri Lanka has registered an impressive growth in garment and textile export in the first half of this year despite the ongoing economic and political crisis. Garment exports from the island nation stood at $2,732.9 mn in January-June 2022 registering an increase of 20.5 percent over exports of $2,267.5 mn in the same period of previous year, according to the statistics released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan textile exports increased by 15.3 percent year-on-year to $180.6 mn during the same period. However, exports of other made-up textile articles stood at $63.8 mn during January-June 2022, registering a mild growth of 0.7 percent year-on-year, according to the Central bank’s report ‘External Sector Performance – June 2022’.
Textiles, garments and other made-up textiles articles exports accounted for 56.59 percent of all industrial exports from Sri Lanka during the six-month period of this year, the report showed. On the other hand, imports of textiles and textile articles rose by 16.2 percent to $1,685.6 mn, while clothing and accessories imports were up by 24.2 percent to $130.8 mn during January-June 2022.
During the month of June 2022, garment and textile exports from the South Asian nation registered a growth of 36.9 percent year-on-year. Category-wise, garment exports increased by 39.8 percent to $526.4 mn, while textile exports rose by 4.4 percent to $31.4 mn. Exports of other made-up textile articles were up by 25.2 percent to $11 mn.