Sri Lanka's Export Performance in May 2022

Earnings from the merchandise exports increased by 9.9 % y-o-y to US$ 980.2 Mn in May 2022 as per the data released by the Sri Lanka Customs. This was mainly due to the increase in earnings from export of Apparel & Textiles, Coconut based products and Electrical & Electronic Components.

Major Exports in May 2022

Major product sectors except Spices & Concentrates, Tea and Rubber-based products; Apparel & Textiles, Coconut based products, Electrical & Electronic components and Food & Beverages, Seafood and Ornamental fish as shown in the table 1 below, recorded increased exports in May 2022.

Exports of Apparel & Textiles increased by 30.1% y-o-y to US$ 482.7 Mn in May 2022. The increase was driven by both Apparel and Textiles.

On monthly analysis, export earnings of kernel products, fiber products and shell products categorized under the Coconut based products increased by 5.37%, 4.93% and 12.97% respectively in May 2022 compared to May 2021.

Export earnings from Seafood increased by 11.8% to US$ 16.8 Mn in May 2022 compared to May 2021. The expansion was contributed mainly by higher exports of  Fresh fish (4.9%) and Shrimps (90.74%).

Further, export earnings from Ornamental fish increased by 41.1% to US$ 1.3 Mn in May 2022 compared to May 2021.

Export earnings from the Electrical & Electronics Components increased by 18.8 % y-o-y to US$ 41.8 Mn in May 2022 with strong performance in exports of Insulated Wires & Cables (18.78%) and Electrical Transformers (16.5%).

However, export earnings from Rubber and Rubber Finished products have decreased by 15.9% y-o-y to $ 76.7 million in May 2022, with poor performance in exports of Pneumatic & Retreated Rubber Tyres & Tubes (-5.41%).

Export earnings from tea in May 2022 which made up 12% of merchandise exports, decreased by 14.2% y-o-y to US$ 93.7 Mn. Export of tea packets and bulk tea decreased by 9.75% and 18.83% respectively in May 2022 compared to May 2021.

In addition, export earnings from Spices and Essential Oils decreased by 14.9% to US$ 21.5 Mn in the month of May 2022 compared to month of May 2021 due to the poor performance in Oleoresins (-91.79%) and cloves (-49.61%). Despite the decline in the sector, earnings from Cinnamon and Pepper increased by 3.27% & 11.26% respectively in May 2022 compared to May 2021.

Merchandise Export Performance

Major Exports during the period of January – May 2022

For the first five months of 2022, merchandise exports increased by 9.7% to US$ 2,400.6 Million compared to the corresponding period of 2021. Major product sectors except Tea, Rubber-based products and Spices & Concentrates; Apparel & Textiles, Coconut based products, Electronics & Electronic Components, Food & Beverages, Seafood and Ornamental fish as shown in the table 1 below, recorded increased exports.

Apparel & Textile exports increased by 16.3% to US$ 2,400.6 Mn during the period of January to May 2022 compared to the same period of 2021. Except Gloves, Mitts & Mittens of Textile (-2.61%) and Made-up Clothing Accessories (-9.99%), Yarn (-32.7%) and Made-up Textile Articles (-3.04%), exports of other sub categories of Apparel & Textiles sector increased.

For the period of January to May 2022, export earnings from Coconut & Coconut based products expanded by 10.4% to US$ 350 Mn from the same period last year. Earnings from all the major categories of Coconut based products increased in the period of January – May 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021 due to the improved performance in export of Liquid Coconut Milk, Coconut cream, Cocopeat, Mattress Fiber, Activated Carbon, Coconut Oil and Desiccated Coconut.

Meanwhile earnings from export of Electrical and Electronic Components (EEC) increased by 14.6 % to US$ 188.3 Mn in the period of January to May 2022 compared to the corresponding period of 2021. Export of Insulated wires increased by 19.71 % in during the period of January to May 2022 to US$ 33.04 Mn compared with the corresponding period of previous year. In addition, export of Switches, Boards & Panels, Electrical Transformers and Other Electrical & Electronic Products increased by 4.43%, 34.58% and 9.97 % respectively during the period of January to May 2022 compared with the corresponding period of previous year.

Export earnings from Seafood increased by 16.7% to US$ 105.8 Mn in the period of January to May 2022 compared to year 2021 due to the better performance in all the sub categories; Frozen Fish (8.64%), Fresh Fish (45.92) and Prawns (56.55%).

Further, earnings from export of ornamental fish increased by 19.7% to US$ 7.1 Mn during the period of January to May 2022 compared to year 2022.

However, export earnings from Tea decreased by 12.5% to US$ 460.9 Mn during the period of January to May 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021. Exports of all the sub categories of tea sector except Tea Bags; Tea packets (-14.2%), Bulk Tea (-10.95%,), Instant Tea (-23.42%) and Green Tea (-31.43%) decreased during the period of January to May 2022 compared with the same period of 2021.

Export earnings from Rubber & Rubber finished products decreased by 2.4 % to US$ 414.3 Mn in January – May 2022 compared with the same period of 2021 attributed to lower exports of Industrial & surgical Gloves (-18.4%). However, exports of Pneumatic & Retreated Rubber Tyres & Tubes increased by 6.83% during the period of January to May 2022 compared with the same period of 2021.

Sri Lanka’s Export Performance in Major Markets

Strong Export Growth recorded for top 5 export markets in the month of May 2022 and the period of January to May 2022.

During the month of May 2022, exports to United States, Sri Lanka’s single largest export destination, increased by 25.02% to US$ 266.42 Mn compared to the month of May 2021. The better performance led by increase in exports of Apparel & Textile (40.83%) and Coconut based products (29.69%).

The single largest export destination of United States of America recorded US$ 1,364.08 Mn worth of exports in the period of January to May 2022 – a significant year on year increase of 20.32 % in comparison to US$ 1,133.71 Mn recorded in 2021.

Top 10 Export Destinations

Exports to FTA Partners

During the period of January to May 2022, exports to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners accounted for 7.2% of total merchandise exports increased by 17.67 % to US$ 398.98 Mn.

Although Exports to India increased by 20.61% y-o-y to US$ 364.99 Mn, exports to Pakistan decreased by 6.75% to US$ 33.99 Mn during the period of January to May 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021.

Increased Exports to India is mainly supported by increased exports of Animal Feed (7.92%), Arecanuts (79.74%), Woven fabrics (162.24%) and Other Textile Articles (83.42%) in January - May 2022.

Sri Lanka’s Export Performance in Regions

On a region wise comparison exports to all regions except CIS countries increased during the period of January to May 2022 compared with the corresponding period of 2021 and exports to EU, South Asia, Africa and ME increased in the month of May 2022 compared to May 2021.

Export Regions

Exports to the European Union (EU) which represented 20% of Sri Lanka’s exports increased by 11.39 % y-o-y to US$ 234 Mn during the month of May 2022.

During the period of January to May 2022, breakdown of exports to the top five EU markets which accounted for 80% of Sri Lanka’s total exports to the EU were; Germany US$ 303.5 Mn (increased by 6.14%), Italy US$ 243.86 Mn (increased by 7.89%), Netherlands US$ 161.58 Mn (decreased by 0.32%), Belgium US$ 122.07Mn (decreased by 7.65%) and France US$ 103.68 Mn. (increased by 14.15%).

Export of Services

The estimated value of services exports for the period of January to May 2022 was 1,472.7 Million dollars, increasing 93.3 % over the corresponding period of 2021. The services exports estimated by EDB consists of ICT/BPM, Construction, Financial services and Transport & Logistics.