Sri Lanka’s earnings from apparel exports grew 5.1 per cent in 2019. Exports to the European Union grew over five per cent. Exports to the United States grew 3.3 per cent. Exports to other markets such as Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Japan also grew at a comparatively faster pace.

The country’s apparel sector expects immediate revenue loss due to the Coronavirus outbreak in China to be about a month’s value of apparel exports. With the industry expected to struggle due to the supply chain derailment, from the month of March till June, the hit is expected to be about 30 per cent of the cumulative export values for the four months. The industry has estimated the loss based on the assumption there will be no cancellations in orders from buyers and in that scenario the industry would be faced with a tough time with manufacturing the standard orders and the additional loss, which put together would be a burden. Meanwhile, fabric supplies are expected to arrive from China by end-March and the challenge for the industry would be to have the production completed and delivered within the standard cycle of 1.5 months. Overall costs are expected to increase, specially on the logistics side, due to the cancellations of routes from China to Sri Lanka.