Nepali handicraftsmen look forward to expanding export to China in post-pandemic era

KATHMANDU, Sept. 3: Rajesh Shakya, a Nepali handicraft trader, has seen a significant drop in handicraft export to China due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the northern neighbor remains the top export destination for his products.

As a managing director of Harati Ma Handicrafts Pvt. Ltd. based in the Kathmandu Valley, Shakya has been exporting metal crafts to China for the past decade.

"China is the largest market for my products, with 60 percent of my total handicrafts going to China," Shakya told Xinhua, and added that has been pulled down around 90 percent by the pandemic.

"I'm awaiting the COVID-19 situation to normalize as soon as possible so that we could send more goods abroad."

Europe has been the major market for Nepali handicraft items, however, in recent years, China has emerged as a large market for Nepali traders, according to handicraft exporters.

As shown by the Nepali central bank's statistics, handicrafts topped Nepal's exports to China in the 2020-21 fiscal year that ended in mid-July.

The South Asian country shipped handicraft products worth 308 million Nepali rupees (2.62 million U.S. dollars) to China in the last fiscal year, accounting for nearly one-third of Nepal's total exports to China valued at 1.01 billion rupees (8.66 million dollars) during the period, according to the central bank.

The export has suffered badly in the last two fiscal years as the COVID-19 pandemic rages, noted the bank.

Statues are a major item among the handicraft products being shipped to China. According to figures of Nepal's Department of Customs, metal statues worth 13.65 million rupees (116,445 dollars), wooden statues valued at 3.84 million rupees (32,787 dollars) and other statues worth 126.55 million rupees (1.07 million dollars) were sent to China in the past fiscal year.

Besides, felt worth 46.01 million rupees (392,520 dollars), hand-made papers worth 4.27 million rupees (36,421 dollars) and imitation jewelry at 8.16 million rupees (69,652 U.S. dollars) were exported to China as well.

What is more, Chinese tourists were major customers for Nepali handicrafts, according to traders.

"I sold around 70 percent of my handicrafts in the domestic market in normal times and the Chinese tourists were also my important customers," said Dharma Raj Shakya, proprietor of Araniko Stone Carving Pvt. Ltd. in the Kathmandu Valley.

With few foreign tourists setting foot in Nepal amid the pandemic, the handicraft traders have lost an important source of revenues.

Dharma Raj Shakya, who has been involved in handicraft export to China, said China has emerged as "very important market" for Nepali handicraft products in recent years.

"I used to export handicrafts worth over 3 million Nepali rupees (255,885 dollars) to China in a year before the pandemic hit. Now, exports to China fell to around 1.5 million Nepali rupees (12,794 dollars) only in the last fiscal year," said the trader, a former president of the Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal.

Still, handicraft traders are hopeful about exports to grow, in particular to China after the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control.

"I think the suppressed demand for handicrafts during the pandemic will grow once the pandemic is over," said Rajesh Shakya.