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India’s Covid surge helps SL exporters

17 May 2021

  • Export orders witness marginal growth

By Imsha Iqbal 

  The export orders Sri Lanka has been receiving from countries have witnessed marginal growth in the past month, which is believed to be due to unprecedented economic disruptions India has been facing during that period due to its deadly second wave, The Morning Business learns.  Speaking to us, Minister of Trade Dr. Bandula Gunawardana noted that there has been a growth in the number of orders Sri Lanka has been receiving and added that this could be possibly due to India’s second wave. The orders which were supposed to be initially given to India must be shifting towards Sri Lanka due to India’s current pandemic situation, he stated. Dr. Gunawardana said that the UK and the US have been Sri Lanka’s main exporters for a considerable period. Accordingly, demand is mostly for herbal products, as well as many other Sri Lankan products. Attempts to speak to officials from the Sri Lanka Exporters’ Association (SLEA) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce or the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) on the matter proved futile. Furthermore, according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Sri Lanka Customs, and EDB statistics for the period of January to March 2021, monthly exports witnessed gradual growth. The EDB set up an export target of $ 16 billion for the year 2021 upon considering the possible adverse effects of the coronavirus. Earnings from merchandise exports in February 2021 declined by 3.7% to $ 952 million, compared to February 2020. Export earnings exhibited a recovery towards pre-pandemic levels since the peak of the second wave of Covid-19 in Sri Lanka, reaching levels close to those recorded in the same month of 2020 ($ 989 million) and 2019 ($ 981 million).  Earnings from the export of industrial goods declined by 6.3% in February 2021, compared to a year ago, mainly due to the decline in earnings from petroleum product exports by 60.8% (YoY [year-on-year]) and textiles and garments by 5.3% (YoY). Earnings from the export of petroleum products declined because of the significant reduction in volumes of aviation fuel and bunkering fuel supplied due to lower aircraft and ship arrivals in the country, as well as the reduction in prices for these export products.   


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