Manufacturing in Sri Lanka
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SRI LANKA, 2015/12/27
With an eye on the target of reaching $8.5bn worth of clothing exports per annum by 2020, Sri Lanka’s apparel manufacturers are backing a national bid to regain preferential trade concessions from the EU.
Sri Lanka has carved a niche as an international centre for clothing manufacturing despite tough regional competition, with the high-price segment performing particularly well.
However, a decision in 2010 by the European Commission to temporarily revoke the low or non-existent tariffs awarded to the country under the Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) scheme has inhibited additional robust sector increase in the intervening years.
Sri Lanka lost its GSP+ concessions following an investigation into alleged human rights abuses at the end of the country’s civil war, though it retains access to the standard GSP scheme, which grants some, albeit fewer, preferential import tariffs.
