Government policy is supportive of the apparel industry, Chairman, Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association, Rehan Lakhani told the Association’s 36th Annual General Meeting in Colombo last week.
“We will continue to impress upon the government the need to continue the trade policy agenda that was launched, because we are relying on a global platform.
On the domestic front, we are faced with the challenge of overcoming a number of serious issues, such as the SLPA tariff increase, new shipping policy draft, new procedure for monitoring export proceeds and the non- issuance of export releases,” he said.
Outgoing Chairman AEASL Felix A. Fernando said the apparel industry’s ambitious goal has been achieved. We recorded US $ 5.32 billion last year. The industry is focused on growth and its goal of achieving US $ 8 billion in export revenue.
There is visible development of the rural areas which has helped uplift the lives of the rural public in particular. With the incentives offered by the government, many factories have been opened in the North and the East providing opportunities to the youth in conflict areas, he said.
“Today the apparel and textile industry is the thrust of development and records steady growth. The apparel industry recorded 5.7 percent growth while the textile industry recorded 1.6 percent growth.
The industry will be worth US $ 2.6 billion by 2023. Retail growth will be led by China and India,” Fernando said.
“The combined retail global consumption will increase while the markets have shown a growth of 15 and 11 percent. Sri Lanka’s apparel industry however runs at 15 percent below capacity,” he said.