• Services exports estimated to be $ 2.2 b down 2% weathering challenges 
• Merchandise exports plunge sharply by 16.8% to $ 7.4 b

EDB Chairman Prabhash Subasinghe

Sri Lanka’s total exports in the first nine-months declined by 17.74% to $ 9.7 billion compared to $ 11.8 billion recorded in the same period last year, the Export Development Board (EDB) announced

yesterday. 

“However, on an average the country’s monthly exports both merchandise and services remained in the range of $ 1 billion to $ 1.3 billion amidst the unprecedented global economic downturn due to COVID-19 pandemic,” the EDB said in a statement. 

It said Sri Lanka is not an exception for the declined trade given the pandemic, where factors such as weakened demand in the main major import markets, disrupted supply chains, capacity and logistical constraints, social distancing issues and so on keeps challenging the usual businesses.

Despite global and local challenges, the EDB said the export sector continued its operations showcasing its resilience to reduce to trade gap, signalling the world its fast recovery amidst challenging times.

“Looking at the export figures from January to September, it is remarkable to see how well our Sri Lankan exporters have performed despite this pandemic. The nine months overall export figures show a strong resilience,” EDB Chairman Prabhash Subasinghe said. 

In the service sector, he said the ICT/BMP sector has performed well and in merchandise exports, agri products and food products have done extremely well. 

“We are hopeful that this trend will continue, and we can see a strong recovery through the end of the year. I commend all our exporting companies and their loyal staff for their commitment to support the national economy by bringing in the much-needed foreign currency,” Subasinghe added.

The total services exports stood at $ 2.2 billion in the first nine-months as against $ 2.9 billion recorded for the same period last year. It has declined by 2% or $ 620 million. The service sector export also include both Sea and Air Transport, Construction, Financial Services and IT/BPM sector which covers the Telecommunication Services and the Computer Services. 

The EDB said that the service exports sector was affected severely as a result of COVID-19 pandemic adding that the only sub-sector which recorded a growth was ICT/BPM.

ICT/BPM sub-sector estimated to increase by around 8% from January to September, as it had a conducive environment globally with the rising demand for technological solutions and due to COVID related consumer product developments.

The most affected service sectors were; Construction (drop by 47%) and Transport and Logistics (drop by 36%) and the estimated performance of these sectors for the period are $ 30 million and $ 1.12 billion respectively. 

The total estimated decline of the service exports is around 21% for January to September this year. The actual statistics will be available only up to June and therefore, the comparisons are made with the estimates for the rest of the period. 

Merchandise exports saw a drastic drop by 16.85% to $ 7.4 billion during the nine-month period. The major export sectors such as apparel dropped by 21.54% to $ 3.2billion, tea dropped by 10.32% to $ 920 million, rubber based products fell by 14% to $ 587 million, diamond, gems and jewellery by 50% to $ 119 million and electrical and electronic components fell by 15.39% to $ 246 million.

Coconut based products saw a marginal increase by 3.7% to $ 490 million, food and beverages increased by 2% to $ 276 million, other export crops increased 148% to $ 61 million and petroleum products increased by 6% to $ 257 million. Exports of spices and concentrates remained at same level of $ 234 million.

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