Sri Lanka's apparel sector fears a cri sis if market conditions do not improve and political moves fail to secure critical trade concessions in the US and EU. Several factories fear they will have excess capacity and will soon run out of orders. Among the reasons that are prompting anxiety in the industry is the low priced Chinese exports to the US and the failure of the EU to extend concessionary market access to tsunami-hit countries from April 1. The new GSP+ scheme of the European Commission providing zero duty for Sri Lanka's GSP eligible exports including textiles and to the 25 member states of the EU that was scheduled to take effect by April 1 will now take more time. The General Affairs Council of the European member states that met recently in Brussels has not reached a decision on which sectors of beneficiary countries' industries should be phased out from the current GSP scheme on the basis of agreed thresholds for particular sectors.
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