Sri Lanka’s apparel sector is unlikely to change too much due to the political changes in the United States and the west, Capital Alliance Chief Strategy Officer Purasisi Jinadasa said.
The US buys 44% of the clothing manufactured in Sri Lanka and looking at the recent political changes that took place in the West and the election of Donald Trump wouldn’t have any impact on Sri Lanka ,he said.
“The President elect Donald Trump will mainly focus on maintaining jobs in the USA and expanding production with companies set up in the USA. However If he just chooses to impose sanctions primarily on Mexico and China, which might actually benefit Sri Lanka, as both countries are well known apparel manufacturers.”
In terms of the tea industry, Trump election will bring Russia into international foray, as a result Russian economy will open up.
According to Jinadasa it will ultimately create more opportunities for Sri Lankan tea exports. Russia currently buys 15% of Sri Lanka’s tea exports. “In South Asia, the demand for clothing is about US$ 40 billion and we can easily see in the next five years and so where a person can sit behind the laptop, order a piece of cloth, customise it , directly send it to the automated manufacturing plant and send the finishing product back to the buyer.
This is what we should be focusing.
I think we are well placed to take advantage of it.”
However, he stressed that if the apparel sector is not in the forefront of product innovation, processing innovation and mechanised production, it is very likely to affect the sector.
He also added that as Sri Lanka is trying to make Sri Lanka an export driven economy to attract mass production, the country has to be attractive enough to bring competitive industries into Sri Lanka.
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