External trade – 1st Quarter 2022 

Highlights


Total Exports

Total exports proceeds, including ship's stores and bunkers amounted to Rs 21,837 million, showing a decrease of 5.1% compared to the previous quarter. This is mainly explained by decreases in exports of “Machinery and transport equipment" (-19.2%), “Food and live animals" (-11.6%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-9.5%), and “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (-6.2%), partly offset by increases in the exports of “Ship's Stores and Bunkers" (+17.2%) and “Chemicals and related products, n.e.s." (+2.7%).

Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021, total exports for the first quarter of 2022 increased by 26.2%. This is mainly explained by increases in exports of “Chemicals and related products, n.e.s." (+75.5%), “Ship's Stores and Bunkers" (+72.6%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (+48.8%), “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (+15.9%), and “Food and live animals" (+3.5%).

 

Total Imports

Total imports for the first quarter of 2022 amounted to Rs 61,970 million, showing a decrease of 8.4% compared to the previous quarter. This is mainly due to decreases in imports of “Chemicals & related products, n.e.s." (-31.7%), “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (-23.7%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-16.9%) and “Machinery and transport equipment" (-4.8%), partly offset by increases in imports of “Mineral fuels, lubricants & related products" (+11.9%) and “Food and live animals" (+0.5%).

Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021, total imports for the first quarter of 2022 increased by 40.3%. This is mainly due to increases in imports of “Mineral fuels, lubricants & related products" (+78.9%), “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (+44.1%), “Chemicals and related products n.e.s" (+30.6%), “Machinery & transport equipment" (+30.1%), “Food and live animals" (+27.3%) and “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (+16.5%).

 

Balance of trade

The resulting trade deficit for the first quarter of 2022 worked out to Rs 40,133 million, 10.2% lower than the deficit of Rs 44,672 million of the previous quarter and 49.4% higher than the deficit of
Rs 26,867 million of the corresponding quarter of 2021.

 

Forecast for year 2022

​Based on trends and information from various sources, the forecast of total exports for 2022 will be around Rs 100 billion, 22.0% higher than the total exports of around Rs 82 billion in 2021. Total imports for 2022 including one-off items such as machinery for metro terminals and helicopter, will be around Rs 270 billion, 25.6% higher than the total imports of around Rs 215 billion in 2021.

 

The trade deficit for 2022 is forecasted at around Rs 170 billion, 27.8% higher as compared to around Rs 133 billion in 2021.                       

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27 May 2022