Woollen cloth trade hit due to mild winter
BD Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, February 7
A relatively higher temperature this winter has not only affected crops and natural water resources but also hit wool business. Traders in Dharchula and Munsiyari regions of the district have witnessed about 60 per cent fall in the sale of woollen clothes and bedding material this winter.
Traders of woollen garments in Dharchula say they had imported over 30 quintals of Tibetan wool last year to be woven into woollen clothes and bedding material. Craftsmen and women had made sweaters, blankets, thulmas, chutkas (woollen quilts), mufflers and caps from wool till October last year and had placed the goods in the market for sale.
“Traders, who sold woollen goods worth over Rs 15 lakh worth in the markets of Dharchula, Didihat, Berinag and Pithoragarh till last year, sold goods worth Rs 7 lakh to Rs 8 lakh till date due to a relatively higher temperature this winter,” says Chandra Singh Budiyal, founder and manager of the Jai Durge Bunkar Samiti at Dharchula.
Budiyal says over 1,000 families of poor tribals of Dharchula and Munsiyari subdivisions in the district are dependent on woollen crafts and they will suffer losses due to the mild winter this year. “Woollen clothes and bedding material are still being dumped in our shops. We will pack and store these now and unpack these again in October only if the weather gets cold then,” he adds.
