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EDB starts work on latest global market Fairtrade call

Daily FT - 25/06/2014

• Enlists former global FT head Myers for initiative
• Pilots Fairtrade certification support in Sri Lanka for exporters
• First sector: Crafts & Lifestyle exports
• Midaya Ceramic, Kandygs, among shortlisted
• Crafts & Lifestyle exports up by 25%

Paul Myers, the visiting USAID/VEGA Fairtrade Expert visits a craft-maker in Piliyandala.

As Fairtrade becomes the latest sales driver in international markets, Sri Lanka has stepped up its efforts to meet the new standard. A promising Lankan export niche has become the successful testing ground for Sri Lanka’s entry into global Fairtrade certification regime – and the EDB, which leads the initiative, has received encouraging feedback from many – including a global consultant on Fairtrade.
“I am impressed of Sri Lanka’s craft makers and exporters. Their products are of high quality,” said a satisfied Paul Myers, the visiting USAID/VEGA Fairtrade Expert on 19 June at EDB, Colombo.

Fairtrade Expert Myers was making his concluding remarks on his three weeks’ long consultation visit to Sri Lanka to assist EDB’s first Fairtrade initiative. The first ever national initiative on Fairtrade in the country, the programme aims to introduce and implement Fairtrade concepts for the craft sector in Sri Lanka for a period of 2-3 years. The first stage of the three stage program was already concluded in 2013.

Nine firms, Midaya Ceramic, Kandygs Handlooms, Island Craft, Suntex Weaving Industries, Earth Bound Creations, Trickledown, Maximus, Selective Designs, and Pung Craft have succeeded in clinching EDB’s support to apply for Fairtrade certifications in this first initiative.

The Fairtrade Certification has been identified as one of the tools for the sustainable economic development of the world and defined as an alternative approach for conventional international trade. Fair trade certification mark now appears in thousands of products in international markets, and in Germany, where more and more consumers insist on fair trade certifications, revenues of such products increased by 22% in 2013. In UK, Fairtrade products saw a 19% increase on sales in 2012.

“I have visited several craft makers in Sri Lanka including some handloom makers. I am impressed of the craft makers and exporters whom I met. Their products are of high quality and in par with international standards. Also, the initial preparatory work on Fair Trade of most participating companies in this project too has been highly encouraging,” Myers said on 19 June.

According to the EDB, the total lifestyle and craft exports that stood at $ 78 million in 2011, has increased to $ 97.3 million, a 25% growth. EDB believes that this niche export sector to be promising when it comes to the premium end of global accessories and lifestyle markets.

Craft sector in Sri Lanka is mainly a cottage based industry and comprised of small and medium entrepreneurs. The crafts of Sri Lanka are a combination of the traditional skills and modern technology.
This industry directly contributes to the social development in the rural communities and assists them for better income and more importantly, is instrumental in absorbing the rural talents and capabilities to the export mainstream.

According to the EDB, the Sri Lankan craft products are manufactured targeting the niche export market where mass production is not required. Sri Lanka is also a signatory to all International Labour Conventions under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in this context the EDB believes that introducing Fair Trade concept to the Sri Lanka craft sector will enable manufacturers to market their products to the demanding niche markets and receive a premium price.

With a view to promote Fair Trade as a marketing tool among identified craft manufacturers in Sri Lanka and facilitate them to export their products under Fair Trade label targeting the niche export market, EDB  commenced the implementation of a programme to introduce and implement Fair Trade for Sri Lanka’s craft sector starting 2013. EDB has also successfully concluded its Fairtrade awareness session in Batticaloa with 45 participants-which included even deserving widows in the area working on handlooms and crafts.
Many beneficiaries of EDB’s Fairtrade support were upbeat of the prospects. Midaya Ceramic Managing Director Anura Warnakulasooriya said: “This is a good initiative. This certification gives us an extra advantage and helps us to look better – it differentiates us from other manufacturers. But we need to look at costs – if we can get government’s support on the cost of getting and maintaining the certification, it will be very helpful.” Midaya Ceramic is Sri Lanka’s oldest ceramicware firm. The only company with such a large speciality ceramic portfolio in the country, its exports are in the markets of demand in the UK, Holland, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway and USA.

Awareness seminar/workshop on cut foliage and flowers for the export market for export oriented out growers in NW province

The North Western Provincial office of the SLEDB, successfully conducted the awareness seminar/workshop on Cut foliage & flowers for the export Market on 20th June 2014 in the auditorium of District Secretariat-Kurunegala with the participation of 102 Cut foliage & Flowers out growers in North Western Province. The programme was organized by NWP-EDB with the assistance of Department of Agriculture.

The main objective of conducting this seminar was to increase the capacity of export oriented cut foliage out growers in the Province by way of enhancing Technical/Market awareness and facilitating linkages between out growers and exporters in order to develop consolidated supply base of quality Cut foliage & flowers for exports from Regions.

At this seminar, Mr K.P Priyantha, an Agriculture Instructor of the Department of Agriculture took part as a resource person & delivered a presentation on Cultivation of quality cut foliage & flowers for the export market, giving more emphasis to the technical aspects regarding the field. Participants made aware on the export potential cut foliage verities where they could gain lot of opportunities by sub contacting these supplies for the export market.

In addition NWP-EDB made arrangements to get the service of an export company for the seminar as a resource person with the intention of providing practical experience on the sector for participants.   In response to request made by the EDB, Ms. Chandima Alahakoon-Director of Dulvin Flowers & Nursery Pvt Ltd. a leading cut foliage exporter in the industry delivered a presentation on new trends of Cut foliage & flowers in the international market and significance of quality requirements of supplying cut foliage for the export market. Moreover, out growers made aware on regular problems face by exporters when supplying cut foliage & flowers for the export market. She expressed that there is a massive demand for some cut foliage varieties from Sri Lanka in the international market & encouraged out growers by giving the assurance of market availability.

Therefore, this event offered certainly an excellent opportunity for export oriented cut foliage & flowers out growers in the North Western Province and also to achieve EDB’s main objective of conducting the seminar. The NWP-EDB is intending to facilitate to establish linkages between out growers & exporters & provide necessary training with the assistance of respective institutes to develop consolidated supply base of quality cut foliage & flowers for the export market from Regions as an upcoming activity of this programme.

Sri Lanka shines at 2nd China-South Asia Expo in Kunming

Daily FT - 24/06/2014

The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (SLEDB) in collaboration with the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing organised the Sri Lanka Pavilion at the 2nd China-South Asia Expo in Kunming, China from 6 to 10 June with the participation of 135 Sri Lankan companies, displaying and promoting Sri Lankan product sectors such as gems and jewellery, tea, batik, handicraft, coir products, Ayurvedic products and giftware.
Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen ceremonially opened the Sri Lanka Pavilion at the expo and delivered the keynote address at the 9th China-South Asia Business Forum held on the sidelines of the 2nd China-South Asia Expo.

In his speech, the Minister highlighted the enormous potential for further promotion of trade and investment between Sri Lanka and China, before a large gathering of business entrepreneurs representing South Asia and the South East Asia region.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Chandima Weerakkody, representing the Government of Sri Lanka, participated in the Opening Ceremony of the 2nd China-South Asia Expo. At a meeting with the Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang, on the sidelines of the Kunming Expo, the Deputy Speaker sought the continued support and cooperation of China for further expansion of trade and commerce between the two countries.
Vice Premier Wang Yang, while commending Sri Lanka’s active participation at the expo, expressed the hope that the proposed FTA between the two countries would contribute greatly towards the expansion of bilateral trade between China and Sri Lanka.

Also on the sidelines of the 2nd China-South Asia Expo, the 6th Session of the Joint Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation between China and Sri Lanka was held in Kunming on 7 June. Ministry of Finance and Planning Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera led the Sri Lanka delegation and Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Yan led the Chinese delegation. A wide range of issues relating to Sri Lanka-China trade and economic cooperation was discussed by the two sides at the meeting.  Ambassador of Sri Lanka to China Ranjith Uyangoda, Secretary to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Anura Siriwardena, Director General of Commerce R.D.S. Kumararatne, EDB Executive Director Dr. Yousuf Kachchi Maraikkar and senior officials from the Ministries of Finance and Planning and Industry and Commerce, the Department of Commerce, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing and the Consul of Sri Lanka in Chengdu participated in the events.

Dutch push for Lanka’s hi-tech exports

Asian Tribune - 23/06/2014

From far right: M.K.S.K Maldeniya (EDB’s ICT Sector Director), Joost vander Kooij and Onno Roukens (the CBI professional consultants from Netherlands) nod in agreement with Bandula Egodage (Chairman/CEO of EDB) as he addresses interactive session “Website Enhancement and Online Marketing ITO/BPO” on 19 June organised by the EDB for Sri Lankan software manufacturing and export firms.

Sri Lanka is leveraging ICT exports to achieve its $20 B goal of 2020. And a new support initiative by the Netherlands is set to elevate Lankan software exporters to latest tech developments. “The government is highly focused on ICT sector as a forex earner and export driver. We cannot ignore ICT if we are to achieve any progress” said Bandula Egodage (Chairman/CEO of EDB) on 19 June in Colombo.

Chairman Egodage was addressing the two day-hands on interactive session “Website Enhancement and Online Marketing ITO/BPO” organised by the EDB for Sri Lankan software manufacturing and export firms. The first ever such hands-on initiative moved by EDB was facilitated by Netherlands’ CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries)-an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Joost vander Kooij and Onno Roukens, the two CBI professional consultants who specially arrived from the Netherlands to train the companies in the session helped the more than 25 Lankan participants of the session on a one-to-one basis. Among the ICT giants taking part were John Keells Computer Services, hSenid Business Solutions, 99X Technologies, Cyber Concepts, SewEasy, E-Nowave, InfoMate, Calcey Technologies, Pyxle, Allion Technologies, Dinota Information Technologies, Sanje, i-Context Content Convergence, Four Corners, Akio Information Technologies, Data Management Systems, Lanka Communication Services, E Marketing Eye, and Perfect Business Solution Services.

“We earned $ 719 Mn from this sector in 2013. The government is highly focused on ICT sector as a forex earner and driver of exports” said Chairman Egodage and added: “Even Mahinda Chinthana stresses the importance of ICT for our way forward in exports, specially as we work towards $ 20 Bn exports goal by 2020. We cannot ignore ICT if we are to achieve any progress. Communication as well as ICT/BPO sectors are cross cutting and are always evolving. In Sri Lanka, we have all plus points to develop ICT sector –most importantly, brilliant brains and pools of knowledge. Today’s initiative by EDB involving no less than international support is part of our strategy to maintain software sector in par with international standards.”

According EDB, Sri Lanka recorded $ 719 Mn of communication and computer exports in 2013 -a growth of 6.8% over its 2012 exports of same. The share of Communication and Computer exports was 6.4% of 2013’s total exports which stood at $ 11.1 Bn.

“CBI is currently working in 20 emerging markets helping them in many areas-including IT outsourcing and market intelligence” said CBI’s Onno Roukens, and added: “Some non-IT sectors helped by CBI are agro sector such as cut flowers and foliage to natural ingredients for pharmaceuticals, consumer products such as apparel, domestic furniture and household utensils, industrial products such as automotive parts, electronic components and medical devices. IT support is part of our services such as IT outsourcing, BPO and tourism.”

“Instead of providing financial support to other countries, CBI provides training instead” said CBI facilitator Joost vander Kooij, and added: “We have understood that Sri Lanka software professionals to be well skilled in what they do. Our training and info on the dynamics of global marketplace will help them considerably.”

Export earnings increase in April,rupee stable

Daily News - 23/06/2014

Sri Lanka’s external sector strengthened further in April 2014, with continued foreign currency inflows in the form of earnings from exports, tourism, workers’ remittances, as well as inflows to the financial account, the Central Bank said on Friday.

The trade deficit continued to narrow during the first four months of 2014 as a result of healthy growth in exports. The contraction of the trade deficit and higher inflows to services and income accounts contributed to reducing the current account deficit. These developments, together with inflows to the financial account have resulted in a higher surplus in the BOP by end April 2014, compared to the corresponding period of 2013,the Bank said.

On a year-on-year basis, earnings from exports in April 2014 increased by 9.4 per cent to US dollars 762 million, while expenditure on imports declined by 5.3 per cent to US dollars 1,444 million. Accordingly, the trade deficit contracted by 17.7 per cent to US dollars 682 million. The cumulative trade deficit for the first four months of 2014 contracted by 12.1 per cent, as the growth in export earnings of 16.9 per cent outpaced the 2.6 per cent increase in import expenditure. The growth in earnings from exports was led by improved performance in industrial exports which grew by 8 per cent, year-on-year, in April 2014 to US dollars 559 million. Industrial exports led by the earnings from export of textiles and garments, increased by 22.5 per cent, contributing 94 per cent to the total increase in exports. Industrial exports accounted for more than 73 per cent of total exports.

During the month, earnings from export of garments to the EU and to the USA increased by 22.3 per cent and 21.2 per cent, respectively, while a notable increase of 50.5 per cent was observed in export of garments to non-traditional markets such as China,

Hong Kong, Japan and Russia reflecting further diversification of export markets.

Earnings from the export of machinery and mechanical appliances and leather products also contributed to the growth in exports of industrial products. Exports of machinery and mechanical appliances, comprising of electrical and electronic equipment such as transformers, static converters, accumulators and home appliances, increased by 20.7 per cent while exports of leather products increased by 86.6 per cent owing to a more than two fold increase in footwear exports. On the other hand, the export of petroleum products, gems, diamonds and jewellery, transport equipment declined in April 2014. Healthy performance in tea and coconut product exports mainly contributed to the growth in agricultural exports by 13.7 per cent to US dollars 200 million.

Export earnings from tea increased by 9.8 per cent to US dollars 117 million as a result of the increase in both the price and volume of tea exported. The average export price of tea increased by 2.8 per cent, to US dollars 5.01 per kg in April 2014 from US dollars 4.87 per kg in April 2013, while export volumes increased by 6.8 per cent, year-on-year.

Three-day ‘Israel-Sri Lanka Business Forum’ on 25 June

Daily Finance Times - 23/06/2014

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Israel in collaboration with the Export Development Board in Sri Lanka, Ministry of External Affairs in Sri Lanka, LR Group in Israel and the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce in Israel, has organised a ‘Business Forum’ for the Sri Lankan and Israeli business communities from 25 to 27 June, in order to strengthen bilateral, commercial, trade, cultural and other relations between the two friendly nations.

Main topics to be dealt with will include tourism, technology, water, energy, medical, apparel, employment, agriculture, green house cultivation, diary, fish, flora and fauna, diamonds, gems, jewellery, rubber, hospital, pharmaceuticals, highways, construction and any other topics by the prospective delegates based on their requirements.

The program for the day one will commence with the inauguration at Sharon Hotel, Hertziliya and sponsored by LR Group. Topics covered will be ‘Sri Lanka-Israel relations and way forward’ by Deputy Minister of External Affairs and Chief Guest Neomal Perera; ‘Economy in the New World Order’ by Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, and ‘Sri Lanka as One of the Best World Destinations for Investment’ by Board of Investment Chairman Dr. Lakshman Jayaweera.

The program for day two organised by the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce, Israel will comprise the introductory note and greetings by Sri Lankan Ambassador in Israel Sarath Wijesinghe;
opening note and welcome address by Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce President Ran Cohen, ‘Sri Lanka-Israel relations and way forward’ by Deputy Minister Perera and ‘Economy in the New World Order’ by Dr. Weerasinghe.

The event will also include networking and business meetings with Israeli companies and entrepreneurs. Organisers have also arranged afternoon site visits to Holon Institute of technology (HIT) and Israeli Diamond Centre (IDC), Ramat Gan as well as visits to historical, religious and technical places sponsored by LR Group.

There will be over 40 participants from various disciplines and sectors from Sri Lanka and they will interact with their Israeli counterparts at both events and at the hotel (one-to-one and collectively). Arrangements are also being made for a major trade mission to Sri Lanka from Israel in September. Ambassador Wijesinghe said the forum is a continuation of the initiatives taken by the Embassy of Sri Lanka during the historical visit by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the State of Israel and meetings with the high-end business community, trade mission to Sri Lanka organised by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Israel with the Israel Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce in the State of Israel, trade mission to CHOGM led by the Sri Lanka Ambassador in Israel with the active involvement of EDB, the Ministry of Trade and Commerce in Sri Lanka and continuous interactions of the Israel-Sri Lanka business communities with public and private sector participation in both Sri Lanka and Israel.

Trade between Sri Lanka and Israel stood at $ 172 million in 2013, of which 72% is accounted by diamonds. Sri Lankan companies participating are Airwing Tours Ltd., Araliya Group of Companies, C.R. Exports Ltd., Dareen Holidays Ltd., E-W Information Systems Ltd., Horizon College of Business and Technology Ltd., Jay Health Foods Ltd., Jay Sea Foods Processing Ltd., Jetwing Travels Ltd., Justin Morgan Recruitment Migration Centre, Lanka Sathosa Ltd., Leader Travels & Tours Ltd., Ministry of Cooperatives and Internal Trade, Ministry of Higher Education, OLS Foods Ltd., Paranthan Chemical Company Ltd., Shiran Garments Ltd., SPJ Holdings Ltd., Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, The Finance Company Plc.,  Union Chemicals Lanka Plc, and Western Agri Business Ltd.