Although some improvement in woollen carpet export this fiscal, manufacturers are being unable to fulfil the demand from the international market due to human resource crunch. With rising labour migration, domestic producers are facing difficulties in finding adequate number of qualified workers, according carpet manufactures. Currently, there are around 350 carpet factories operating in the country, according to Nepal Carpet Exporters’ Association (NCEA). During the carpet industry’s heydays a decade ago, it used to employ around 500,000 workers. The figure, however, has dropped to 30,000 currently. “We need an additional 30,000 workers to meet the current demand,” said Gautam Man Singh Dangol, secretary at NCEA.

According to Kabindra Nath Thakur, the current demand stands at 800,000-900,000 square metre of Nepali hand-knotted woollen carpets per year. “But the annual production is expected to drop to 550,000 square metre this year from last year’s 686,000 square metre due to labour shortage,” he said.

Nepali carpets export rose by 16.4 percent in the first seven months of the current fiscal compared to the same period last year, according to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) statistics. Nepal exported carpets worth Rs 2.71 billion over the period against Rs 2.33 billion last year. Carpet export witnessed decline in FY 2009-10 by 29 percent compared to previous two years, according to NRB.

Traders have been exporting carpets mainly to the US, Germany, the UK, Australia, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands. Of them, Germany consumes around 60 percent of the total exported carpets, said Thakur.

Besides labour shortage, increased load shedding and rising raw materials cost has also hit carpet manufacturers. Carpet manufacturers import wool mainly from New Zealand and Tibet. Dangol said decrease in wool production in New Zealand is one of the major reasons for rising raw material cost. “The cost of yarn has reached to Rs 450 per kg this year from last year’s Rs 200,” he said.

Published on: 11 April 2011 | The Kathmandu Post