A Dip into Sri Lanka Market

From 20th to 22nd August 2013， CONSTRUCTION EXPO2013， the biggest construction exhibition in Sri Lanka， took place in BIMCH center in Colombo， the capital of Sri Lanka. Some 30 Chinese enterprises participated as a group in China International Commodity Exhibition in Sri Lanka（CICES 2013）. These enterprises came from construction， hardware， home products， bathroom products， textile industry.

According to Beijing LanSing Century Exhibition CO.，Ltd， organizer of CICES 2013， the pillar of Sri Lanka economy is plantation， and industry is quite weak， most of the industrial productsare imported.Compared with Japanese and Eur opean and American products， Chinese products are of high quality and competitive prices. Some of the enterprises came for the first time to explore the local market by themselves for the first time. After the exhibition， some of them established cooperation relationship with local clients， who had formed the intention to visit the domestic factory of Chinese exhibitors for further cooperation. The bare space out of the exhibition center also was in the exploitation of exhibitors， including engineering manufactures. One Chinese exhibitor said that they had established firm cooperation relationship with local agents， and established the brand image of their own products， and the next step was to increase market share.

Looking around in Colombo city and suburban area， buildings were springing up everywhere， among these were apartments， hotels and hospitals， which means huge demand for construction products. Meanwhile，Sri Lanka， which had just setting itself free from the civil war， was developing rapidly in many areas. According to Latith J Perera， CEO of National Construction of Sri Lanka （NCASL），“The national economy of Sri Lanka is developing at high speed， and there are huge business opportunities in areas including the harbour construction， infrastructure construction area， road construction and energy. Chinese companies ‘must’come here.” In the textile industry， Sri Lanka also expressed strong interest for communication and cooperation towards China. Currently， 60% of the textile products in Sri Lanka are imported， which means business opportunities for Chinese textile manufacturers.

Sri Lanka is the gateway to South Asia market for enterprises from all over the world. With strategic geographic location， low labour prices， low commodity prices and energy price， and favorable investment policies， it has become a hotspot for international investors.