Chyangra Pashmina, the collective trademark of Nepali pashmina products, has been approved by four more countries, bringing the total number of countries approving the brand to 47. The collective trademark ensures the quality of the product and is expected to boost sales of Nepali pashmina in the international market.

According to the Nepal Pashmina Industries Association (NPIA), the Chyangra Pashmina trademark was approved by Malaysia, China, Brazil and Russia recently. Canada, the US, the European Union, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and Australia are among the countries that have already given approval to the brand.

NPIA President Durga Bikram Thapa said they began work to register the Chyangra Pashmina mark in the four countries due to growing demand for the Nepali product. “Among them, demand from China, Japan and a number of EU countries has been encouraging,” said Thapa, adding that Germany, France, Italy and the UK were among the largest buyers of Nepali pashmina products.

The Chyangra Pashmina logo was okayed for use on Nepali pashmina products in 2011. The NPIA, in collaboration with the Commerce Ministry and the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC), has been working to register the logo in the international market. The Chyangra Pashmina logo guarantees that strict quality standards and environmentally friendly methods have been followed, and that no child labour has been used, during the entire production process.

Export orders for Nepali pashmina products have swelled since the trademark was approved. As per the statistics of the TEPC, export earnings from Nepali pashmina stood at Rs1.63 billion in 2010-11 which surged to Rs2.44 billion in 2016-17. The use of the collective trademark has helped revive demand for Nepali pashmina.

Nepal saw a sharp fall in pashmina shipments from 2000-10. Traders exported pashmina products worth Rs7.5 billion during 1999-00. Exports plunged to Rs1.3 billion in 2009-10. Similarly, the number of pashmina factories dropped to 100 from 1,000 during its heyday and investments also fell sharply to Rs3 billion from Rs15 billion during the period, according to the NPIA. Thapa attributed the rise in export earnings to the registration of the Chyangra Pashmina brand in more countries.

According to him, shawls and sweaters made of pashmina are among the fastest selling products. “Apart from registering the logo, we have recently focused on diversifying pashmina products which has also helped increase demand from the international market.”

Despite the initiatives to register the collective trademark, the pashmina industry has not been able to gain significant benefits mainly due to lack of raw materials and poor marketing of Chyangra Pashmina. According to the NPIA, 90 percent of the wool used to make pashmina products is imported.

“In addition, the high cost of registering and publicizing the logo has been an obstacle to promoting pashmina products in the international market,” Thapa said. He added that the registration of Chyangra Pashmina in the United Arab Emirates had been pending for a long time due to this reason.