Keep Abreast With the Exports and Exporters in Sri Lanka

The good news is in. The perseverance of the incumbent government of Sri Lanka in negotiating with EU to have GSP Plus Concessions reinstated are eventually paying off. The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, has proposed that Sri Lanka is eligible to receive GSP Plus Concessions. Once it’s 

EDB Chairperson Indira Malwatte

The Sri Lankan blue swimmer crab fishery is a coastal fishery industry, which operates in the relatively shallow waters of Southern tips of Gulf of Mannar across the Palk Straits to the Southern boundary of the Bay of Bengal. 

The Sri Lankans have long celebrated the healing goodness of herbal plants and long before tea and coffee were merged into our daily diet as the two main hot drinks, we drank herbal infusions or tisane as the world know it today.

The 22^nd edition of the GULFOOD 2017, the largest annual food and beverage trade show in the Middle East will kick off on February 26, 2017, at Dubai World Trade Center, with the participation of over 95,000 stakeholders including food and beverage manufacturers, suppliers and professionals as well as customers from across the world.

While the rest of the world believes in the extreme extraction of gems and diamonds using heavy machinery and state of art mining equipment, gem mining in Sri Lanka is mostly a labor of love heavily dependent on elbow grease and skill than any other machinery.

The Export Development Board (EDB) entered into a promotional agreement with Thai Trade Centre Chennai (TTCC) on 7 February to further develop two-way trade between Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The agreement that was entered into between EDB and TTCC was a result of long and effective discussions between the Sri Lanka Embassy in Thailand, EDB, NGJA and SLGJA. The agreement was signed in the presences of the Ambassador for Thailand in Sri Lanka Nopporn Adchariyavanich at the EDB in Colombo.

With 30 Sri Lankans out of each 100 having access to the internet and one in four households in the country owning at least one computer, Sri Lanka is making strides in increasing IT literacy among school children and youth across the island.

The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) with the coordination of Sri Lanka Embassy in Moscow is organizing a 10 member delegation at the PRODEXPO International Exhibition to be held from 06th to 10th February 2017 at Moscow, Expocentre, Russian Federation.

The Export Development Board (EDB) has initiated action on the preparation of a National Export Strategy (NES) for the next five years. The EDB is empowered by the Sri Lanka Export development Act to prepare a national Export strategy.

Each year 250,000 Sri Lankans reach the job market looking for new working opportunities. Since the government sector is filled to the brim, private sector organizations in Sri Lanka is faced with the responsibility of providing 8 out of 10 new jobs, which makes the spark of entrepreneurship, a necessity more than an option today.

Ranked at 14^th in Global Services Location Index 2016, by AT Kearney and among the Top 20 Emerging Cities by Global Services Magazine, Sri Lanka recorded an over USD 800 million in export revenues in the BPM and ICT sector.

Sri Lanka has been celebrated for the brightest and the most valuable gemstones in the world and was suspected to be the locality of mythical ‘Tarshish’, the port city, which supplied King Solomon with gems, silver, pearls and ivory.

With the annual economic losses due to deforestation and land degradation estimated at a 1.5 – 3.4 trillion Euro in 2008, equaling 3.3 – 7.5% of global GDP in 2008, the world is fighting a losing battle against soil erosion and degradation caused by natural and man-made causes.

In the wake of the Free Trade Agreement between China & Sri Lanka to be finalized around March 2017 and of the recently signed Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association (SLGJA) & Guangdong Gems and Jade Exchange (GDGJE), it’s on the cards that Sri Lankan gem exports to China, the world’s largest gem importer enjoying the lion’s share, that is, 76.8% of the world gem market - In financial terms, China’s gem imports amount to a whopping US $25.8 billion - will grow considerably.

Sri Lanka holds the monopoly for Ceylon Cinnamon or true cinnamon, the celebrated spice that changed the human history forever. Made from the bark of the small evergreen tree called Cinnamomum zelanicum, Ceylon Cinnamon’s unique fragrance and taste, as well as its remarkably low amounts of coumarin, had made it one of the most sought after spices made in Sri Lanka, ever since the world discovered the many uses of Ceylon Cinnamon.

Sri Lanka was once again reaffirmed as the Rathnadweepa or ‘the isle of gems’ by the discovery of the biggest blue star sapphire from a mine in Rathnapura, the town of gems.

Weighing an astonishing 1404 carats, the rare star sapphire now known as ‘Star of Adam’ was valued at over USD 300 million. Found during the fall of the year 2015, the star sapphire has evoked a greater interest and excitement among the global gem and jewelry traders.

Sri Lankan boat manufacturers are seeing an increase in demand for pleasure, commercial and fishing boats following the International Boat and Fisheries Exhibition 2016 that was held at Dickowita Fishery Harbor in October last year.

According to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, the country is tipped to receive an income of Rs. 20 billion by exporting Sri Lankan made fishing vessels to European countries including the UK, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and France.

It’s no secret that Sri Lanka’s abundance of Coconut plantations is a significant source of export earnings and employment generation in that it gives rise to a number of industries from Coconut flour to desiccate to activated carbon to coir grow bags and everything in between. While it’s not as common as Coconut oil, desiccate & activated carbon exports, Coconut substrate based growing media are a lucrative exports industry. The industry has created an economic value for Coco peat, a byproduct of coir manufacturing industry, which had long been held as deleterious in terms of the fertility of land.

Foremost among these growing media are coir grow bags, a product extensively used in greenhouses...

Sri Lanka, the cradle of the global rubber revolution and one of the eleven natural rubber growing countries in the world, only holds the tenth position among the eleven members of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) mainly due to the low production and yield of natural rubber.

Due to the low yield in Sri Lankan rubber plantations and to the rising amounts of domestic consumption, Sri Lanka’s rubber exports have diminished from 120,900 metric tons in 1980 to a mere 16,300 metric tons in 2014, as per the statistics provided by the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka.