US Duty Free Concession not Fully Utilized by SL Exporters

Deputy Minister of Nations policies and economic affairs, Harsha De Silva while addressing a forum on the US GSP programme held by the Srilanka USA business council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said, that Srilankan exporters are not making enough use of a duty free arrangement with the United States and need to exploit it better.

He further said, the US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Programs gives duty free access for some Srilankan exports like rubber, gloves, pneumatic tires and activated carbon and not for our main export apparel.

The GSP programme’s use rate is reasonably high. But there are many Harmonised System Customs (HS) codes you can still exploit, he said. Mr. Silva added, of 500 HS codes that are eligible to the US only around 80 to 90 are being used.