EDB targets US $ 12.5b export income

By Lalin Fernandopulle

The Export Development Board (EDB) targets an export revenue of US$ 12.5 billion this year, said EDB Chairman Bandula Egodage.

He said that merchandise export revenue reached US$ 11 billion in 2014, a noteworthy increase in export income to the country.

Merchandise export revenue from January to November, 2014 recorded an increase of around 7.5 percent which is similar to the export income growth of 2013 and export income touched the US$ 10 billion mark last year.

The agriculture sector recorded a growth of 9.4 percent, fisheries - 9.9 percent and industrial sector - 6.1 percent from January to November last year.

Tea, coconut products, fruits and vegetables, cut flower and essential oil contributed to agricultural exports, ornamental fish and edible fish boosted fishery sector exports and garments contributed to industrial export income.

“The merchandise export income in November 2014 was at $923.7 million, which is a 2.8% increase compared to October. Several sub sectors such as apparel and fishery delivered satisfactory results.

Apparel exports are on track while fishery and several other exports exceeded annual target and sustained year-on-year growth,” Egodage said.

Service exports such as ICT-BPM exports were not included in the January-November 2014 revenue and are awaited by the EDB as they are still being processed. Except for export crops, natural rubber and diamonds, growth was seen across the board in all other export sectors. Apparel exports year-on-year from January to November surged by 10.35% to US $4.458 billion and annual targets for coconut, fruits and vegetables, and floriculture were achieved last year.

“We are pleased with the growth in exports despite a challenging global business environment which crippled the economy of many major export markets.

We are confident that this year with the turnaround in the situation across the globe, export income will grow several fold bringing in the much needed foreign exchange to the country,” Egodage said.

The EDB focuses on value addition, market diversification and technology to expand exports. Value addition and diversification of exports paid dividends last year with export value and volumes increasing.

Geographical indication for Ceylon Cinnamon branding, export drive for major products such as apparel, tea and rubber, introducing new varieties of cinnamon products, quality improvement and brand building, supply chain development for agricultural products helped boost exports last year.