Sri Lanka’s Laugfs to target Maldives, Indonesia and Africa for exports
The Morning: Laugfs Terminals Ltd. has identified exporting to the Maldives, Indonesia and African continent, as prospective markets, since having lost out on exporting to its main export market Bangladesh since November 2024, due to its domestic upheavals, an official of the Sri Lanka Board of Investments (BOI) said recently.
“Since November, the company has not been able to export as much of its production as it expected to, due to its primary export market Bangladesh, undergoing domestic upheavals,” an official from the BOI said, speaking to the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 4 March.
“The company has since reverted back to selling 40% of its production to the local market, and has sold 34.2 MT (metric-tonnes) ($ 22 million) in exports, and have identified that they are to sell more product to the Maldives, and target Indonesia and Africa as prospective markets for gas export.”
Laugfs Terminals Ltd. is a company that owns and operates a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) transshipment terminal in Hambantota, Sri Lanka.
The company is one of 17 other projects operating under the Commercial Hub regulations introduced in 2012, operating out of BOI identified zones: Katunayake, Koggala, Mirijjavila, Katunayake airport, Hambantota, Colombo and Mattala, under the Finance Act.
Companies operating within the regulations are mandated to engage in entrepreneur trading, off-shore business, head-quarter operations, front-end services and logistics- all of which are meant to be done in an export-oriented manner, with custom-bonded exemptions, under a BOI agreement.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s business conducive environment and the continuing improvements to the ease of doing business environment in the country have helped boost the businesses operating in the country. This is evident by looking at the strength, growth and expansion of Sri Lankan businesses, especially after facing an economic crisis in 2022. The overall strength and growth of the country’s economy has resulted in many business ventures operating in Sri Lanka engaging in overseas expansion programmes. The expansion of Laugfs Sri Lanka’s export expansion is a further indication of the growth and business potential in Sri Lanka and the overall growth of the country’s private sector. Given all these developments, foreign businesses/investors could explore the steadily growing business/investment opportunities in key economic sectors in the country. The strong private sector in the country also presents opportunities for foreign businesses/investors to form partnerships or joint ventures in a bid to further expand operations. Sri Lanka is after all in the path to becoming a regional hub supported by the strategic positioning in the Indian Ocean and the many trade agreements as well as trade concessions enjoyed with many foreign countries. All these clearly indicate the growth and business potential in Sri Lanka as well.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20250312/Z_1 |