Exports soar by 36% to $ 834 m in November

The Central Bank said yesterday that exports in November had increased by 36% year on year to $ 834 million, the highest monthly gain since October 2004.

It said the “significant” improvement reflected substantial increases in some of the relatively newer categories of exports, such as boats, bicycles, electrical equipment, rubber products, petroleum products, food, beverages and tobacco.

Cumulative earnings from exports during the first 11 months of 2010 increased by 15.4%, year-on-year, to $ 7,339 million, reflecting one of the highest cumulative growth rates in the recent past. Expenditure on imports increased by 19.1% to $ 1,113 million in November 2010, mainly due to higher imports of intermediate goods.

Cumulative expenditure on imports during the first 11 months of 2010 increased by 32.6%, year-on year, to $ 12,083 million. As a result, the trade deficit expanded to $ 4,744 million during this period compared to $ 2,753 million in the corresponding period of 2009.

The largest contribution to growth in export earnings came from the industrial exports, followed by the agricultural exports. Industrial exports, which accounted 76% of total export earnings, were led by textile and clothing exports.

Earnings from garment exports to Sri Lanka’s major markets, the EU and USA, increased by 39.2% and 28.7% respectively, in November 2010. Earnings from machinery and equipment exports increased significantly to $ 67 million in November 2010. This comprised mainly of transport equipment such as boats and bicycles and electrical equipment such as transformers, static converters, inductors, circuits and insulated cables.

Earnings from rubber products, petroleum products and food, beverages and tobacco categories also contributed towards the growth in industrial export earnings in November 2010. Earnings from agricultural exports, which accounted for 22.9% of total export earnings, also grew, reflecting increases in export volumes and prices in all sub-sectors of agricultural exports. The average export prices of tea and rubber remained high at $ 4.55 per kg and $ 4.14 per kg respectively, in November 2010.

Expenditure on imports increased led by higher imports of intermediate goods, particularly petroleum. Import price of crude oil averaged at $ 84.85 per barrel in November 2010, reflecting an increase of 7.2% over $ 79.18 per barrel in November 2009.

Expenditure on imports of consumer goods increased in November 2010 due to higher imports of non-food consumer goods, led by motor vehicles. However, expenditure on food imports decreased mainly due to lower import volumes of rice, sugar and wheat grain, while expenditure on imports of milk products increased by 48.8% in November 2010, reflecting higher international prices due to global supply constraints.

Imports of all sub categories of investment goods, except transport equipment, increased in

November 2010.

Jan-Nov remittances up 24% to $ 3.76 b

THE Central Bank said that during the first 11 months of 2010, workers’ remittances increased by 23.9% to $ 3,761.9 million (after adjusting for revisions by commercial banks) over that of the corresponding period of 2009.

Gross official reserves continued to remain above the targeted level and stood at $ 6.6 billion by end December 2010, without Asian Clearing Union (ACU) funds. Based on the previous 12-month average expenditure on imports of $ 1,108 million per month, the gross official reserves without ACU funds were equivalent to six months of imports.