Sri Lanka’s economy records mixed sectoral growth in Q2 2025

According to the latest report released by the Department of Census and Statistics for the second quarter of 2025 (April 1 – June 30), Sri Lanka’s fisheries sector, vegetable cultivation, and rubber cultivation have recorded unstable performances, showing negative growth trends.

The data indicate that despite expansion in majority of agriculture activities, ‘Fresh water fishing and fresh water aquaculture’ (34.8 percent), ‘Growing of rubber’ (10.8 percent), ‘Marine fishing’ (5.2 percent) and ‘Growing of vegetables’ (3.6 percent) reported contractions in the second quarter of 2025.

Meanwhile, ‘Growing of rubber’, a major contributor to exports, recorded a decline of 10.8%. 

The Rubber Development Department attributed this drop to seasonal cultivation periods in March–April and heavy rainfall in May–June.

Despite these setbacks, overall agriculture, industry, and services recorded positive growth during the quarter. 

In the second quarter of 2025, Agricultural activities, Industrial activities and Services activities all reported increases of 2.0%, 5.8% and 3.9% respectively, it said.

Under the production approach, several crops including paddy, cereals, sugarcane, fruits, and spices reported significant positive growth. 

‘Growing of tea’, one of Sri Lanka’s key foreign exchange earners, expanded by 6% in the second quarter, the Department added.

The report further highlighted strong growth in ‘Animal production’, which includes livestock for meat, dairy, and eggs. Overall, this sector recorded a growth of 13.9% compared to the same period in 2024. 

Within this category, poultry meat production increased by 10.9%, egg production by 35.3%, and milk production by 2.5%.

The Department also noted that the production cost of eggs has declined significantly during the quarter.