India:West Bengal govt worried over silk from China
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PublishDate:
2006-07-10 14:17:00
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Kolkata, July 7: West Bengal government is worried that China will flood the state's markets with its silk after reopening of the Sino-Indian border trade through Nathula yesterday, Minister For Cottage And Small-Scale Industries Manab Mukherjee said here today.
"Silk is not an item of export, but eventually it will come. China now controls 78 per cent of the world market in silk and unless the silk industry in West Bengal is modernised, it will be difficult to stand up to competition," Mukherjee told reporters here.
He said the West Bengal government has appointed a state-owned consultancy firm Webcon to prepare a report on how to modernise the silk industry and to reconstruct the silk trade from cultivation of silk worm to weaving to marketing.
The Webcon has suggested investment of Rs 161 crore for modernisation of the silk industry in West Bengal and the state government was studying the report, the minister said.