High sales for Sri Lanka craft-makers at Shilpa 2018

The recently concluded six-day long national handcrafts festival has netted highest sales reported in the series so far.

“The Shilpa Abhimani 2018 festival reported a total sale of Rs 10.82 Mn. This is the best sales in this series so far. We thank all our craftsmen” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen, evaluating the event report from the Chairperson of National Crafts Council (NCC) Mrs Heshani Bogollagama on 20 September.

The event was launched on 12 September in Colombo by Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen with the participation of (HE) High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Agricultural Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Buddika Pathirana, Chairperson of NCC Mrs Bogollagama and many other distinguished craftsmen from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Malaysia. The six-day long Shilpa Abhimani showcased 1418 designs (of Lankan craftsmen that won awards at Provincial levels) that will compete for Presidential Awards later.

NCC report showed that 27000 visitors arriving to experience the crafts festival. Total sale value of Rs 10.1 Mn (Local Rs 9 Mn and foreign Rs 1 Mn-from 14 foreign exhibitors) was apart from Rs 2.1 Mn orders received by Lankan craftsmen. Another Rs 710,000 was collected from sale of award winning crafts. A total of 101 booths were displaying a wide range of designs and hand-work by craftsmen from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Malaysia.

Addressing the 12 September launch event Minister Bathiudeen stressed of the achievements of NCC and added: “With the Japan based International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) the government is now working on a project to revive traditional textiles and women’s handicrafts in North and Eastern Provinces. We thank both UNESCO and IRCI for supporting us in this project which is expected to close in 2019.”

According to NCC Chairperson Mrs Bogollagama there are 26000 registered Lankan craftsmen. “Training them and taking their crafts to the market are important activities. NCC expanded training centres and now we have a total of 112 centres across the country” she said.

According to the Sri Lanka Export Development Board, export of crafts increased last year by 11% to US$ 61 Mn from 2016’s $56 Mn.  The largest craft volumes were toys, ceramic ornaments and copper designs.