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Sri Lanka’s exports fell for the fourth consecutive month, shrinking 16.15% YoY to $ 814.1 million in April, dragged by the sluggish demand in major markets.
The April downturn also affected the cumulative merchandise shipments in the first four months by 9.78% to $ 3.81 billion compared to the corresponding period of 2022. Apparel and textiles, rubber and rubber-based products and coconut and coconut-based export products saw a major drop in demand, the Export Development Board said yesterday.
The estimated value of services exports from January to April 2023 was $ 723.68 million, registering an increase of 9.56% over the corresponding period of 2022. The services exports estimated by EDB consist of ICT/BPM, construction, financial services and transport and logistics.
For 2023 the EDB targets to achieve over $ 15.93 billion from merchandise exports, up from $ 13.01 billion achieved in 2022.
Major exports in April 2023
Export earnings from tea, which made up 12% of merchandise exports, increased by 16.1% YoY to $ 93.39 million in April 2023 and the earnings from the export of tea packets up by 29.1% to $ 47.82 million.
In addition, export earnings from the Electrical and Electronics Components (EEC) increased by 16.14% YoY to $ 40.01 million in April 2023 with strong performance in exports of Insulated wire (30.43%) and other electrical and electronic products (18.74 %).
Export earnings from seafood increased by 17.1% YoY to $ 24.76 million in April 2023. This increase was mainly due to the strong performance in the export of frozen fish (21.04%), fresh fish (47.9%) and shrimps (0.34%).
Ornamental fish export earnings increased by 105.83% to $ 2.12 million in April 2023 compared to April 2022.
Despite the decline recorded in the spices and concentrates sector, earnings from the export of Cinnamon increased by 8.41 % in April 2023 in comparison to April 2022.
The value of ICT exports is estimated to increase by 34.95 % to $ 529 million in April 2023 compared to April 2022. In addition, the value of construction and financial services exports are estimated to increase by 15.71% and 3.75% respectively in April 2023 compared to the same period a year earlier.
Export earnings from apparel and textile fell by 23.1% YoY to $ 342.81 million in April 2023.
Rubber and rubber finished products export earnings have dropped by 22.28 % YoY to $ 55.4 million in April 2023, with poor performance in exports of pneumatic and re-treated rubber tyres and tubes at 22.09% and industrial and surgical gloves fell by 24.32%.
On monthly analysis, export earnings of kernel products (-31.71 %), fibre products (-16.18%) and shell products (-30.4 %) categorised under the coconut-based products decreased in April 2023 compared to April 2022 due to the poor performance in export of liquid coconut milk (-22.53 %), coconut oil (-36.98 %), desiccated coconut (-47.17 %), coco peat, fibre pith and moulded products (-14.30% ) and activated carbon (-29.18 % ).
Export earnings from spices and essential oils decreased by 2.04 % to $ 21.08 million in the month of April 2023 compared to the month of April 2022. Export earnings from pepper decreased by 41.65% to $ 2.41 million in April 2023 compared to April 2022.
The value of transport and logistics exports is estimated to drop by 9.17% YoY to $ 40.25 million in April 2023.
Major exports during January - April
Earnings from the export of tea, spices and concentrates and EEC increased by 11.02%, 14.48% and 13.68% respectively during the period of January - April 2023 compared with the corresponding period of 2022.
Tea export earnings increased by 11.02% to $ 407.66 million due to the increase of all the subcategories of the tea sector except bulk tea and tea bags (tea packets 22.41 %), instant tea (55.66 %) and green tea (20.0%).
Earnings from the export of EEC increased by 13.68 % to $ 166.81 million in the period of January to April 2023 compared to the corresponding period of 2022. Earnings from the export of switches, boards and panels and other electrical and electronic products increased by 36.01 %, and 20.37 % respectively.
Seafood export earnings increased by 2.87 % to $ 21.95 million during the period of January to April 2023 compared to the year 2022 due to the good performance in all the sub-categories; frozen fish (21.04%) and fresh fish (47.9%).
The value of ICT exports is estimated to increase by 34.95 % to $ 529 million in the first four months of 2023 compared to the corresponding period of 2022. In addition, construction and financial services exports are estimated to increase by 15.71 % and 3.75 % respectively in the period of January to April 2023 compared with the corresponding period of 2022.
Earnings from the export of apparel and textile fell by 15.94 % to $ 1,612.24 million from January to April compared to the same period in 2022. The export of apparel fell by 17.02% and the export of textiles declined by 3.01 % from January to April 2023.
Rubber and rubber finished products export earnings decreased by 11.42% to $ 299.02 million in January - April 2023 compared with the same period of 2022 attributed to lower exports of Industrial and surgical gloves of rubber (-26.14%) and pneumatic and retreated rubber tyres and tubes (-3.48%).
For the period of January to April 2023, export earnings from coconut and coconut-based products fell by 23.35% to $ 214.19 million from the same period last year. Earnings from all the major categories of coconut-based products decreased in the period of January - April 2023 compared with the corresponding period of 2022 due to the poor performance in the export of liquid coconut milk (-21.03 %), coconut cream (-36.43 %), coconut milk powder (-22.07 %), cocopeat (-2623.39 %), activated carbon (-12.55 %), coconut oil (-22.66 %) and desiccated coconut (-41.38 %).
The value of transport and logistics exports is estimated to decrease by 31.87 % to $ 161.0 million in the first four months of 2023 compared to the corresponding period of 2022.
Export performance in major markets
Out of the top 10 export markets, only the UAE market has shown a positive performance both in the month of April 2023 and during the period of January to April 2023.
Further, Italy’s market has shown a positive performance during the period of January to April 2023 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
Exports to the US, Sri Lanka’s single largest export destination, fell by 22.42% YoY to $ 193.20 million in April 2023. Exports to the US decreased by 16.65% to $ 914.90 million in the period of January to April compared to the same period in 2022.
Exports to FTA partners
Exports to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners accounted for 6.5% of total and decreased by 1.86% YoY to $ 63.38 million in April 2023.
Exports to India and Pakistan decreased by 0.99 % and 11.94% respectively in April compared to the same period a year ago.
Poor performance recorded in India was led by decreased exports of animal feed (-2.71%), pepper (-44.6 %) and areca nuts (-32.82 %) and poor performance recorded in Pakistan was led by decreased exports of coconut.
Exports to FTA partners accounted for 7.2% of total merchandise exports and fell by 7.57% to $ 287.06 million during the first four months compared with the corresponding period of 2022.
Exports to India and Pakistan fell by 5.32% and 30.15% respectively from January to April when compared to the corresponding period of 2022.
Decreased exports to India led by the poor export performance of pepper (-45.78 %) and decreased exports to Pakistan led by the export of sheet rubber and desiccated coconut.
Sri Lanka’s export performance in regions
Exports to the European Union (EU) which comprised 21% of Sri Lanka’s exports during the month of April 2023 fell by 21.94 % YoY to $ 180.24 million, this also reflected negatively on the first four months of 2023 where exports fell 12.74% YoY to $ 835.07 million compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
During the period of January to April 2023, the breakdown of exports to the top five EU markets which accounted for 78 % of Sri Lanka’s total exports to the EU was; Germany’s $ 193.72 million (down by 21.68%), Italy’s $ 197.35 million (up by 2.56%), the Netherlands $ 106.2 million (down by 18.48%), Belgium $ 72.65 million (down by 23.55 %) and France $ 79.82 million (down by 4.68%).
