Story of Silk

LOCATION OF SILK PRODUCTION

Successful sericulture requires a specific climate and environment, specialised knowledge, skill, and painstaking efforts. Only a few countries in the world have been able to produce silk in large quantities due to these constraints.  Even those countries that did, like Japan, were not able to maintain the quantities since, with growing prosperity in the country, they diverted their efforts to easier occupations.

Very few new countries have been able to join the exclusive club of silk producers, and there too, like Brazil, the success has been totally dependent on supplies of raw material and technology by Japan.  Today there is a concerted effort by various development bodies to develop sericulture in developing nations such several African countries, South East Asian countries and South America, as it is recognised that the industry promotes the development of rural areas and can provide a livelihood to women in a high value addition product. 

On the other hand, the silk production in India has gone up from about 7000 tons in 1985 to about 14000 tons now.

Geographically, Asia is the main producer of silk in the world and produces over 95 % of the total global output. Though there are over 40 countries the world producing silk, the vast majority of it is produced in China and India, followed by Japan, Brazil and Korea. China is the leading supplier of silk to the world with an annual production of 153,942 MT (2006).

India is the second largest producer of silk with 18,475 MT (2006-07) and also the largest consumer of silk in the world. It has a strong tradition and culture bound domestic market of silk. In India, mulberry silk is produced mainly in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal, while the non-mulberry silks are produced in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Orissa and north-eastern states.  Silk is a traditional product of India. It is the only country in the world to produce all the four commercially produced varieties of silk, i.e. mulberry, tasar, yeri and muga.  This has been partly due to the fact that there is a huge demand of silk products within India, which has grown up due to rising prosperity. Thus India remains as one of the most reliable and stable supplier of this rich material to the world.