Sri Lanka’s estimated export earnings from goods and services reached US$10.49 billion in the first seven months of 2026, a 5.5% increase on the same period last year, NewsFirst reported on Monday.

Merchandise exports made the larger contribution at US$8.19 billion, up 5.05%. Services exports were an estimated US$2.3 billion, up 7.02%.

The monthly picture was weaker than the cumulative one. July merchandise exports fell 1.3% year-on-year to US$1.29 billion, based on provisional Sri Lanka Customs data together with estimated values for gems and jewellery and petroleum products. Services exports in July were an estimated US$351.92 million, and combined July earnings came to about US$1.64 billion, up 2.63% on July 2025.

What dragged July down

EconomyNext reported the same Export Development Board data with a breakdown NewsFirst did not carry, and attributed the fall to apparel and tea.

Apparel and textile earnings fell 8.82% year-on-year to US$437.59 million in July. The decline ran across the major destinations: shipments to the United States were down 6.28%, to the United Kingdom 5.73% and to the European Union 8.61%.

Tea earnings fell 17.22% to US$116.73 million. The EDB attributed that primarily to the Middle East, where tea exports fell 47.93% against July 2025. Within the region it reported declines of 78.54% to Iraq, 73.09% to Iran, 57.49% to the United Arab Emirates and 3.44% to Saudi Arabia.

Coconut-based products fell 9.89% to US$111.71 million. Seafood recorded the sharpest proportional drop, down 60.31% to US$15.58 million.

EDB chairman Mangala Wijesinghe tied the two largest declines to the conflict in the Middle East. “40 percent of our apparel exports go to the US. 35 percent of our tea goes to the middle east. The war situation has seen a drop in demand,” he said. “We expect this situation will be overcome in the next 3-4 months.”

Services grew, financial services collapsed

Within the July services figure, EconomyNext reported that transport and logistics grew 40.02% to US$193.53 million and construction rose 30.88% to US$13.09 million. ICT and business process management, the largest single services category after transport, grew 2.32% to US$143.24 million.

Financial services fell 57.25% to US$2.10 million — a steep proportional fall from an already small base, and small enough not to move the total.

Wijesinghe said the priority was “to build on this momentum by strengthening the competitiveness of existing export sectors while accelerating the development of new products, services and markets.”

The two outlets disagree on how fast services grew

Both reports give July services exports as US$351.92 million and both attribute the data to the EDB, but they differ on the growth rate. NewsFirst puts the increase at 3.75% year-on-year; EconomyNext puts it at 20.07% and carries that figure in its headline.

The gap is in the July 2025 comparison, not the current month. A 3.75% rise implies a base of about US$339 million; a 20.07% rise implies about US$293 million. Neither report states the July 2025 figure, so the discrepancy cannot be resolved from the two accounts.

The two outlets agree on everything else: the January-July services total of US$2.3 billion and its 7.02% increase, the July merchandise figure and its 1.3% decline, and the 2.63% growth in combined July earnings. EconomyNext’s four itemised services categories sum to approximately the US$351.92 million total, which supports the absolute figure. LankaNewz has not established which growth rate is correct and has not used either in the summary above.

Sources