The Japanese are here to ward off the Chinese threat! The invasion one is talking of is the silk from China which is being “dumped” into the country affecting the livelihood of Indian sericulturists.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency in collaboration with the Central Silk Board are successfully developing the same variety of silk which is being substantially imported from the China into the country, to meet this looming threat.

India is the second largest producer of raw silk in the world next only to China. But the problem arises due to the quality and consumption of Indian raw silk. Very large percentage of Indian silk is consumed domestically. Secondly, the quality of traditional Indian raw silk does not
match the international standards.

This gives rise to the situation where silk fabric exporters have to import large quantities of raw silk.

On the other hand, the raw silk being imported from China, though some are dumped are at much lower cost and meeting the international standards. The total production of Indian raw silk is 16,319 metric tonnes (MT), while that of China is 689,600 MT during 2002.

The total import of raw silk into the country during 2002-03 was 8,900 MT with China’s share being 7048 MT. Imports account for roughly one-third of the country’s consumption.