Kategori: Export

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Colombo International Tea Convention – 24th to 26th July 2024, Sri Lanka

Colombo International Tea Convention – 24th to 26th July 2024, Sri Lanka

“Tea, a lifestyle & a Livelihood” – the Colombo International Tea Convention  will be held from 24th to 26th July 2024 at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The Convention is for tea manufactures, exporters and importers, researchers, tea influencers/ bloggers and tea lovers from all over the world. The convention is expected to be a platform for conversation, thinking, and action on globally applicable, sustainable solutions for uplifting the diverse and unique tea communities and tea-growing beverage industry environments across the world.

The following link has more information and registration details:https://ceylonteaevents.com/

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Sri Lanka in Swedish Radio

https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/den-enes-dod-den-andres-brod-naila-saleem-stockholm

Stockholm Monday

One man’s death, another man’s bread, they say. Take the latest Houthi rebel-led attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Geopolitics that, one might argue, have nothing to do with a textile worker in Bangladesh.

But soon it has to do with just one underpaid textile worker in Bangladesh. Because when the shipment of our knitted sweaters runs into obstacles, it doesn’t take long for the problem to end up on the factory floor again like a boomerang.

And there on the floor there is already a lot of grumbling. A new minimum wage agreement has been concluded and the workers are not satisfied with the scarce 1200 kroner a month that the new wage is. Last fall, they took to the streets of the capital Dhaka and protested.

After all, Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest clothing producers, and for the industry, low costs and short lead times are essential. While the textile manufacturers in Dhaka’s suburbs are now thinking about how to deal with skyrocketing shipping costs for the clothes they sell to Europe and North America, it’s all the happier. in neighboring Sri Lanka.

The port in the capital, Colombo, has received so many requests in recent weeks, as shipping companies reschedule their routes, that they have to say no thanks to customers, local media reports.

Sri Lanka’s strategic location is the big selling point for those who ship goods west and east. And there are both concrete plans and great hopes that the country will be able to make even more money in this particular situation. One of India’s richest men, Gautam Adani, has begun constructing another terminal at the port. The US Development Bank has said it is willing to act as a co-financier. In the same port there is also a Chinese terminal. Geopolitics can hardly be clearer than that. Through loans and investments, the three countries have long tried to increase their influence over those in power in the capital, Colombo.

For Sri Lanka, which is trying to recover from the country’s worst economic crisis ever, more business and investment is infinitely welcome even if it is due to Houthi attacks and a crisis in the Middle East. The International Monetary Fund, which continuously evaluates the government’s reform work, said the other day that it sees signs that the economy is starting to recover, but that it has not yet led to improved living conditions for the population.

One of the government’s moves to get the country back on its feet has been to increase the tax burden. One trade union after another has been protesting on the streets of Colombo for the past year against the fact that the burden of the economic crisis is falling on the population instead of the corrupt elite. Last week, it was the healthcare workers’ turn to carry out a nationwide one-day strike.

Naila Saleem South Asia Correspondent

naila.saleem@sverigesradio.se

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Growing differences in growth – Asia is pulling away


Stefan Karlsson, chief analyst at EKN, presents his latest global outlook for 2023. Sweden’s exports are going strong, global inflation is finally on the way down – and export companies should be aware that Asia will increasingly become the world’s engine of growth.

What is the state of the world economy really like?

  • According to the IMF’s latest forecast, the economy will bottom out this year and then turn upwards. However, the forecast shows that global economic growth will be weaker this year and next year than it was in 2022. However, it depends on where in the world you look – the difference in growth rate between Asia and other regions increases during the year. This year, for example, the euro area is expected to grow by 0.8 percent while Asia grows by 5.3 percent. And, which is important for Swedish export companies to think about, Asia is no longer just a region to trade from. 35 percent of all world imports go to countries in the region.

And what does inflation look like around the world?

  • The historically high inflation, especially in the OECD’s high-income countries, is considered to have peaked and is now gradually falling. In the United States, it peaked in June 2022 and has fallen every month since. The annual rate was 3.9 percent in March, while the key interest rate is five percent. The European and Swedish central banks have been later in the interest rate hike cycle. In May, their key interest rates were 3.75 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. For all three central banks, interest rate increases are expected to end during the summer, although it is not unlikely that another increase could follow in the autumn.

What does this mean for Swedish exports?

  • Swedish exports are going well! Swedish goods exports developed strongly last year, helped by a weak krona. The increase in value was a total of 23 percent, but in the increasingly important Asia the increase amounted to a more modest 16 percent. During the first two months of 2023, merchandise exports continued to increase by 17 percent. Exports to EU countries remain strong with an increase of 20 percent, while exports to Asia are again increasing less than to other regions.

Finally, can we make some cuts to how things look in key export markets?

  1. Latin America
  • Swedish exports to Latin America increased by a whopping 47 percent last year. In 2023, however, growth in the region is expected to amount to a weak 1.6 percent, which makes the region the weakest growing with the exception of Eastern Europe, where the conflict in Ukraine affects growth. Many countries, including Brazil and Chile, are battling inflation, falling export earnings, weak production data and rising unemployment.
  1. Asia
  • In Asia, with China and India at the forefront, strong growth will continue in the coming years. The fact that China’s economic cycle is out of phase with the rest of the world is due to the dismantling of the strict covid strategy at the end of December 2022. After low GDP growth in 2022, three percent, the economy is now at the beginning of a recovery phase. In India and Southeast Asia, growth remains robust – 5.9 percent in India and 4.5 percent in Southeast Asia. In general, Asia has not been hit as hard by inflation as Europe and North America, and even here inflation has probably already passed its peak.
  1. Europe and North America
    The euro area, the rest of Europe and the US will be in a continued high inflation environment in 2023 and this contributes to subdued economic activity. With growth figures of between 0.8 and 1.6 percent for the year, the ”West” is growing the slowest in the world this year, along with Latin America. In the next year, US growth drops further to 1.1 percent. Eurozone growth is increasing slightly, but even in 2024, the OECD countries thus exhibit the lowest growth in the world.

Are you thinking about exporting?