Sri Lankan Handlooms gets foothold in the competitive international market

Sri Lankan handloom textile industry is one of the country's oldest traditional crafts. The industry has helped showcase the undying creativity of generations of Sri Lankans taking them to the international arena.

The modern design trends combined with traditional designs and the influx of new processing techniques has given a new life to Sri Lankan handlooms. The industry has gained a dominant identity and a foothold in the competitive international market.

Sri Lanka is capable of producing various handloom textile products to foreign markets. There is an increasing demand for Sri Lankan handloom textile products in foreign countries. Italy, Germany, France, UK, Norway, Netherlands, Maldives and Thailand are the main export markets for Sri Lankan handloom textile products.

Russian Market Critical For Sri Lanka Tea

The Sunday Leader - 04/01/2014

Behavior of the Russian market would be critical for Sri Lanka tea this year, notes a Sri Lanka Tea Market review 2014 and Outlook 2015.

Weakening of the Rouble would place Sri Lankan Tea Exporters and Russian Importers under extreme pressure. Sri Lankan Exporters who have shipped on credit could have complications with receipt of full payment; whilst brand marketers of teas packed in Sri Lanka could see a sharp erosion of margins if tea prices do not reflect the changes.

2014 Round Up - ‘Sri Lanka and the Colombo Stock Exchange’

The Island - 01/01/2015

Service sector dominated Sri Lankan economy grew 7.3% in 2013 despite challenging 1H13. However 1-3Q14 saw 7.7% growth led by construction, apparel and recovery in agriculture sector.  Thereby we expect the economy to end the year with a GDP growth of 7.8%.

Annual average inflation remained in single digit level for the past 65 months ending 2014 with an inflation of 3.3%. Given the lower inflationary environment, interest rates continued to decline during 2014 where the prime lending rate stood at 6.3%. Despite the declining interest rates, credit growth was rather slow during 1H14. However credit demand showed signs of recovery recording 5.1% YoY in the month of October.  Rupee against the US Dollar was stable at LKR130.0 levels during 2014 largely due to lower oil prices and recovery in exports. 

New markets for ornamental fish

Daily News - 31/12/2014

Some 40 regular export companies in Sri Lanka have successfully taken a 2.7 % share out of the US$ 400 million global market. Promising new global markets have opened for ornamental fish in 2013. The promising and profitable new markets come from the Middle East such as Qatar, Iran and Lebanon who have strongly increased their demand for ornamental fish

Sri Lanka's ornamental fish industry which commands about 2% market share in the global ornamental fish industry should enhance nutrition and disease management, water management, selective breeding and genetic enhancement if the country needs to further increase its share in the global market, industry officials said.

Sri Lanka, UAE Customs sign agreement to boost technical cooperation

News.lk - 30/12/2014

Customs departments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sri Lanka have signed an agreement to boost the technical cooperation between the two agencies.
The UAE, represented by the Federal Customs Authority, FCA, and Sri Lanka Customs, have initialed the agreement on customs technical cooperation in Colombo, during a UAE delegation's visit to discuss ways to bolster cooperation, Emirates News Agency reported.

The agreement was signed by Saud Salem al-Aqrouby, FCA Head of the International Relations Department, and S. Rajendran, Additional Director of Sri Lankan Customs in the presence of Director-General of Sri Lankan Customs, Jagath P. Wijeweera, and several additional Directors-General and Deputy Directors in the Sri Lankan regulatory body.

University of Jaffna hosts biggest IT conference in Northern Peninsula

news.lk - 24/12/2014

IT industry thought leaders and undergraduates meet and network at Day Four of Jaffna IT Week

One of the most prevalent needs of Sri Lanka’s blossoming IT industry is increased human capital, to meet the rising demands of an industry that is hungry for further growth. Public-private partnerships need to play a dynamic role to strengthen our human resources and make known to our youth some of the country’s best employment opportunities.
The Jaffna IT Week – an industry initiative for inclusive growth and reconciliation – facilitated this collaboration, bringing together top stakeholders from the public and private sectors to share knowledge and network with some of the young talent of the country at the Jaffna IT Conference, which was held on 6 December 2014 at the University of Jaffna.

CMI and KPMG discuss how to take advantage of FTAs with India and China

Daily FT - 24/12/2014

In an effort to go beyond the obvious and to better understand the dynamics, opportunities and challenges that stem from Sri Lanka’s Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with India and prospects with China, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) – UK’s Sri Lanka Branch, held a knowledge sharing event recently which they organised in association with their exclusive knowledge partner, KPMG in Sri Lanka. The event captioned ‘Free Trade Agreements: Trends, Prospects and Opportunities with India and China’ brought together business leaders in an interactive discussion on how to make the most of the trade agreements with India and China and how they can contribute to the development of Sri Lanka’s economy.