SRINAGAR: Post- COVID, Kashmir handicraft exports are showing an upward trend amid high demand for silken carpets and shawls in the global market.
Export figures for two quarters have brought cheers to business honchos. Official figures reveal that handcrafts worth Rs 375.97 crore have been exported from April- September 2022. Of which shawls and rumals worth Rs 186.45 crore were exported to different countries. It was followed by carpets with exports touching Rs 91.08 crore.
Likewise paper machie worth Rs 3.38 crore; chain stitch, and crewel worth Rs 65.13 crore, and wood carving worth Rs 1.75 crore were exported in the last two quarters. Other handcraft products worth Rs 28.18 crore were also exported during that period.
In 2021-22, handicrafts products worth 563.13 crore were exported to different markets. Carpets topped the list with exports touching Rs 251.06 crore. It was followed by shawls and rumals with exports touching Rs 165.98 crore.
Likewise, paper machie worth Rs 13.25 crore, chain stitch and crewel worth Rs 79.56 crore, and wood carving worth Rs 4.20 crore were exported in the last two quarters. Other handcraft products worth Rs 49.08 crore were also exported in the last fiscal.
“In 2011-12, our exports were above Rs 1000 crore. Then it came down. Later we had Covid years. For the first time this year, we have seen a healthy trend in exports. Hopefully, we should exceed the last year’s export figures,” Mehmood A Shah, director of handicrafts and handlooms, told The Kashmir Monitor.
Usually, 50 percent of handcraft exports comprise carpets because of their huge demand in the international market. “The trend is that carpets account for a 50 percent increase. Nearly 40 percent exports comprise of shawls. Crewel and woodcarving comprise the rest 10 percent,” he said.
Last year, the brand Kashmir soared high when famed Pashmina shawls were gifted to thousands of VIP guests during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. “Not only Pashmina shawls, but even carpets were also distributed during the world cup. It is because of the effort of exporters. On this bigger platform when you see carpet and Pashimina, it is the recognition of our brand. It will push our products,” said Shah.
Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said the exports have marginally increased. “We can say our exports have slightly increased. It is not a significant increase. It is more or less static,” said Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad, president of KCCI.
