Category: Trade

Mar 05, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports and imports hit new monthly highs in December 2010 with shipments of apparel, the main industrial export, rising sharply despite the loss of duty free access to Europe. Expenditure on non food consumer import category also increased mainly due to higher imports of motor vehicles. All categories […]

Feb 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has told the European Union it does not want to renew a trade deal that was withdrawn over EU concerns about human rights abuses in the island’s ethnic war, a visiting EU lawmaker said. Jean Lambert, member of the European Parliament, said talks with Sri Lankan government officials […]

KUALA LUMPUR, February 18, 2011 (AFP) – Malaysia and India signed a long-delayed free trade pact on Friday that they say will double two-way trade to billion by 2015 and help strengthen economic ties. “The signing of today’s agreement shows our commitment to much deeper economic integration between our two countries,” premier Najib Razak said […]

Feb 18, 2011 (LBO) – India has ended a two month ban on onion exports, which sent traditional buyers to alternative sources, after wholesale prices crashed and farmers protested in the streets. India banned onion exports in December after earlier putting a minimum export price floor of 1,200 US dollars a tonne. After the price […]

Jan 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has cut taxes on imported milk powder from 50 rupees a kilogram to 28 rupees as global commodity prices surged, a finance ministry official said soon after taxes on petrol were cut to maintain prices. Food commodities, base metals, minerals and precious metals have started to bubble again. […]

Jan 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports surged 36 percent in November 2010 to 833 million US dollar, led by industrial exports which grew 40. 8 percent from a year earlier to 633 million US dollars, according to official data. The surge helped exports to grow 3. 7 percent to 7.33 billion US dollars […]

Jan 07, 2011 (LBO) – A United States trade facility allowing duty free Sri Lankan exports that lapsed is likely to be renewed with retroactive effect as has happened in the past, officials said. The US Congress has not renewed the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program before its conclusion of business and therefore GSP […]

Dec 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to get its first ship load of imported ‘big’ onions next week as traders claimed they had run out of stocks Thursday after an export ban imposed by India, the main supplier. Sri Lanka usually imports 4,000-5,000 tonnes of big onions a week from India. The Pettah […]

Dec 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s export earnings in October 2010 shot up 27. 6 percent to 802 million US dollars from a year ago, the third highest monthly value, spurred by higher apparel and commodity exports, the central bank said. Imports grew at a slower 8.4 percent to 1,131 million dollars during the […]

Dec 21, 2010 (LBO) – Prices of onions and leeks in Sri Lanka could rise after India’s decision to suspend exports of onions, a trade official said. Sri Lanka imports 4,000-5,000 tonnes of onions a week from India which supplies about 60 percent of the world requirements of onions. Pettah Wholesale Traders’ Association vice chairman […]

Dec 02, 2020 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has had 13 rounds of negotiations on a new trade deal with India and “certain sections” of the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) had not yet been concluded, a government minister has said. Sri Lanka started liberalizing trade in 1977. India had been Sri Lanka’s biggest trade […]

Nov 30, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government agencies involved in exports and imports need to co-ordinate better to minimise delays and smoothen trade, said Sarath Jayatilake, former Director General of Sri Lanka Customs. Export consignments already checked by one agency are sometimes inspected again by a different agency, he told a stakeholders meeting on […]