External trade – 4th Quarter and Year 2025
Highlights
Fourth quarter 2025
Exports
Total exports for the fourth quarter of 2025, including domestic exports, re-exports and ship's stores and bunkers, amounted to Rs 26,704 million, showing a decrease of 1.0% compared to the value of Rs 26,980 million in the corresponding quarter of 2024. This is mainly explained by decreases in the exports of “Food and live animals" (-8.6%) and “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (-4.8%), partly offset by increases in the exports of “Chemicals and related products, n.e.s" (+22.5%), “Crude materials, inedible, except fuels" (+16.2%), “Ship's stores and bunkers" (+14.5%) and “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (+5.0%).
Compared to the previous quarter, total export proceeds for the fourth quarter of 2025 decreased by 0.9%.
Imports
Total imports in the fourth quarter of 2025 amounted to Rs 88,162 million, showing an increase of 2.3% compared to the value of Rs 86,187 million in the corresponding quarter of 2024. This is due to increases in “Mineral fuels, lubricants, & related products" (+14.1%), “Food and live animals" (+9.9%) and “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (+2.7%), partly offset by decreases in “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-8.7%), “Machinery & transport equipment" (-6.0%) and “Chemicals and related products" (-1.0%).
Compared to the previous quarter, total imports for the fourth quarter of 2025 increased by 17.6%.
Balance of trade
The trade deficit for the fourth quarter of 2025 worked out to Rs 61,458 million, around 3.8% higher than the deficit of Rs 59,207 million of the corresponding quarter of 2024.
Compared to the previous quarter, the deficit for the fourth quarter of 2025 increased by 28.0%.
Year 2025
Exports
Total export proceeds for the year 2025 stood at Rs 107,703 million, representing a decrease of 2.1% over the 2024 figure of Rs 109,965 million. This is explained by decreases in “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-8.5%), “Food and live animals" (-7.4%) and “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (-7.1%), partly offset by an increase in “Ship's stores and bunkers" (+10.1%).
Imports
Total imports for 2025 amounted to Rs 318,962 million, representing an increase of 0.4% compared to Rs 317,802 million in 2024. This is mainly due to increases in “Food and live animals" (+6.2%), “Miscellaneous manufactured articles" (+1.2%) and “Mineral fuels, lubricants & related products" (+0.9%), partly offset by decreases in “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material" (-6.8%), “Chemicals and related products n.e.s." (-2.9%) and “Machinery & transport equipment" (-0.1%).
Balance of trade
The trade deficit for year 2025 worked out to Rs 211,259 million, around 1.6% higher than the deficit of Rs 207,837 million for the year 2024.
Forecast for year 2026
Based on trends and information from various sources, the forecast of total exports for 2026 is estimated at around Rs 110 billion, 1.9% higher than the total exports of around Rs 108 billion in 2025. The total imports will be around Rs 320 billion, 0.3% higher than the total imports of around Rs 319 billion in 2025.
The trade deficit for 2026 is forecasted at approximately Rs 210 billion, 0.5% lower as compared to around Rs 211 billion in 2025.
