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.
27 May 2022 
