COLOMBO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's total exports reached 16.14 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, including 11.94 billion dollars of merchandise exports and 4.2 billion dollars of service exports, signaling a recovery in the export sector, local media reported here Wednesday.

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"It is a notable feature to see a steady growth in the service sector while a marginal growth is seen in the merchandise sector exports in 2019," Chairman of Sri Lanka Export Development Board Prabhash Subasinghe told a media briefing held in capital Colombo.
Subasinghe said an analysis of the major sub sectors contributing to the total exports showed that apparel exports and tea exports contributed billions of dollars to the export basket.
In addition to these two sectors, the other main sectors that contributed to the total exports for year 2019 were rubber and rubber based products, coconut and coconut based products and the engineering products which included electrical and electronic and machinery products and the boat building sectors which recorded over 500 million dollars.
According to official statistics, the United States was the top export destination with 3,139 million dollars followed by Britain with 998 million dollars, India with 759 million dollars, Italy with 531 million dollars and Belgium with 352 million dollars.