Handicraft exports showing signs of recovery

02 Dec '10

2 min read

Handicraft items exports, after experiencing a sharp fall during last year has recovered by some 8.3 percent in the initial three months of this fiscal to touch Rs 903.52 million.

According to the Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal (FHAN), an umbrella organization of handicraft producers and exporters, this rise in exports is mainly because of the rise in the quantum of purchases by foreign visitors visiting the country.

However, Nepali handicraft products were exported to over 60 countries across the world, during the mid-July to mid-October period this year, the report revealed.

Hari Bahadur Karki, Vice-President of FHAN, said that rise in the number of tourists visiting the country and Nepali traders' increased participation in the international trade events had a favorable impact on the handicraft items exports, mainly on dhaka products, woolen items, felt products and metal crafts.

Of the overall handicraft exports, textile products' exports grew by 4.4 percent to Rs 465.53 million, whereas export of non-textile items grew by 27.91 percent to Rs. 437.99 million.

In textile items too, export of items like woolen goods, dhaka products and felt products recorded a rise, with traders of woolen items registering a growth of around 25 percent in their exports. Also that the woolen items' export, by touching the Rs 199.07 million mark in the initial three months of current year, turned to be the country's largest handicraft export item. Its demand in foreign markets too has enhanced, this winter, Karki said.

But then, exports of Pashmina products, which stood to be the country's largest handicraft export item prior to woolen items, dropped by over 34 percent during the period.

As per the FHAN statistics, the country exported only Rs 101.25 million worth of Pashmina products in the first quarter of the current fiscal, as against Rs 154 million worth of exports during the corresponding period, last year.

Moreover, those trading in silk, cotton, hemp and allo items too witnessed a fall in their export earnings.

Fibre2fashion News Desk-India

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