October 5: The business of carpet industry, which has come to a standstill since the government imposed lockdown on March 24, has shrunk by almost 80 percent.

The demand for carpet in the international market has declined because coronavirus has spread across the globe.

Stakeholders say that the demand for carpets is almost nil even though international flights have resumed. This has affected the business as well as export of Nepal-made carpets, which used to have high demand in the international market in the past.

Nepal exports carpets to more than 50 countries including the USA, Germany, the UK, Italy, France, Canada, Belgium and Australia. Among them, 70 percent of export goes to the USA. However, the carpet industry of Nepal has suffered a massive setback because its major market – the USA – has been badly affected by the pandemic.

The carpet manufacturers had been exporting limited amount of their products at exorbitant price during the lockdown through chartered flights as regular flights were disrupted worldwide.

Although regular flights have already resumed since September 1, the carpet exporters complain that they have been forced to pay three times higher fare than the normal price to export their products. Tenjing Sherpa, vice president of Nepal Carpet Manufactures and Exporters Association, informed that they have no option than to pay higher fare for exporting carpet.

According to Sherpa, they used to pay US$ 4 per kg for the export of carpet to the USA. But the airliners currently charge them US$ 12 per kilogram.

Likewise, the airfare for exporting carpet to European countries that used to be US$ 3 per kg has not increased to US$ 9 per kg.

Sherpa claimed that the carpet industry of Nepal is producing carpet at 30 percent capacity.

More than 300,000 workers associated with the carpet industry and 700 entrepreneurs have been badly affected by the lockdown, informed Sherpa.

President of the association Ram Bahadur Gurung said that the production of carpet depends on the demand in the international market. Therefore, they are not able to increase production in the current situation.