Sri Lanka exports rise 6.32% in 2025, helped by coconut and boat building
EconomyNext: Sri Lanka’s merchandise exports rose 6.32 percent to 13,579.38 million dollars in 2025 from a year ago, helped by boat building, coconut and other export crops, data from the export promotion office showed.
Merchandise exports for December 2025 rose 5.88 percent, compared to the same period in 2024, to 1,163.66 million dollars.
“Coconut-based products recorded a significant 27.24% y-o-y increase in December 2025,” the Export Development Board said.
Coconut-based product exports brought in 1.233.01 million dollars in 2025, an increase of 42.66 percent.
Export earnings from apparel and textiles increased by a 4.93 percent y-o-y to 5,300.00 million dollars, amidst US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs.
Earnings from tea fell 19.59 percent to 105.82 million dollars in December 2025 compared to December 2024. But overall, tea exports in 2025 grew 4.97 percent to 1,507.19.
Earnings from rubber-based products declined 5.20 percent to 76.54 million in December 2025 compared to December 2024.
The United States continued to be Sri Lanka’s largest single export destination, with exports growing 3.06 percent to 2,999.15 million dollars in 2025 compared to 2024.
India continued as Sri Lanka’s second-largest export destination, surpassing the United Kingdom.
However, although overall exports to India had increased by 17.21 percent in 2025, reaching 1,035.72 million dollars, exports in December 2025 declined by 7.35 percent to 80.39 million compared to the same month in 2024.
Exports to the United Kingdom grew by 2.8 percent, totaling 929.03 million dollars in 2025.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s export industry is on a steady growth path while serving as a key revenue generator to the country. The exports industry has shown great resilience and growth through the years with the industry even showing growth during the economic crisis faced by Sri Lanka in 2022. The many trade agreements and trade concessions enjoyed with many foreign countries and the business conducive environment in the country have all helped boost Sri Lanka’s export industry. With Sri Lanka now focusing on further expanding the country’s export industry through the promotion of local export products in new foreign markets as well as further expand Sri Lanka’s trade ties to include more foreign markets, there are more business/investment opportunities emerging in Sri Lanka’s export industry and related sectors. Among these expanded opportunities include value additions and diversification of existing export product portfolios to meet the growing demand in foreign markets. Given the growth and business potential in Sri Lanka’s export industry and related sectors, foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in the industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20260205/Z_4 |