Kathmandu, March 29:

Nepal Pashmina Industries’ Association (NPIA) has succeeded in getting its Nepali pashmina logo in registered Australia.

“We will get the confirmation letter within three days,” said a jubiliant NPIA president Shanker Prasad Pandey.

The association has started brand registration process in the EU and eleven more countries for the registration of its brand logo to check fake products and guarantee quality.

“If we succeed in registering our brand logo in these countries, we will be able to control fake marketing of products in the name of Nepali pashmina,” Pandey said. Nepali pashmina does not cover the major markets. Therefore, even an export of Rs 10 billion is a huge business in the international market. According to Pandey, “We are forced to register Nepali pashmina’s brand logo though it is time consuming. The government has granted us priority, but we are working in coordination with an an Australian company ‘Mitrata Foundation’ for the brand registration.”

The association is also in the process of apply to 24 more countries, apart from the EU and the 11 others.

NPIA is leaving no stone unturned to control fake marketing of Nepali pashmina both in the local and the international markets. Due to lack of its own brand, different countries are selling low quality products in the name of Nepali pashmina but which are made of viscous polyester, wool, cotton and other textile materials.

NPIA will also start a campaign in the local market by using hoardings informing about the quality of real pashmina at major tourist spots.

“More than fifty per cent of the local market is flooded by fake pashmina but the government shows no concern,” Pandey complained.

A shawl-sized fake pashmina product is sold at a price tag of Rs 200 to Rs 300, but that is made of viscous polyester, at Rs 500-600 made of wool and at Rs 1,200-Rs 1,300 made of silk and wool mixed while product that cost Rs 3,000 are mostly of silk mixed with a small quantity of pashmina, according to NPIA.

The total pashmina exported during the fiscal year 2007-08 was worth Rs 584,265,083 that is 21.78 per cent of the total export of handicraft goods. Pashmina worth Rs 2,24,468,491 was exported in the first three months of the current fiscal, an increase of 42.56 per cent over the same period last fiscal year that saw export of pashmina worth Rs 157,460,067, acording to the Federation of Handicrafts Association of Nepal (FHAN).