Indian Silk Exports Likely To Fall Short of Target.

Kolkata, Jan 5 (IANS) Silk exports from India are likely to miserably fall short of the 11th Five Year Plan target, having gone down by 50 percent over a period of three years, an industry association said Thursday.

'India ended 2010-2011 exporting $560 million or around Rs.2,800 crore worth of silk. So there was a need of around 150 percent growth in silk exports this year to achieve the 2011-2012 target. But silk export this fiscal would all likely fall by 20-25 percent over the last year's export,' Silk Association of India president Vikram Tantia said during an interactive session on silk exports here.

'As a result, silk exports from the country would miserably fall short of its plan target,' Tantia said.

He said soaring yarn prices have made silk exports uncompetitive.

'Silk yarn prices this year have shot up by more than 100 percent over the last year's prices with peak price moving up to $58 a kg. Prices of silk yarn during September last year was at $25 a kg and the steep increase have impacted production of silk fabric,' he stated.

Stating that in the first six months of the current financial year exports were already down by 35 percent in quantity as well as value terms, Tantia said that the association, however, expected exports to go up in the second half.

Source : news.in.msn.com