It has been about a year since carpet exports began to dip. Industry sources say the slump has resulted because low-grade rugs hitting the markets have tarnished the image of the industry. The other reason for the slump is the absence of a local market for the product. At the height of Nepal's carpet boom, we sold up to 3.3 million sq m of carpets. The downslide began 1999 when Nepal exported about 2.7 million sq m. Exports in 2000 totalled 2.6 million sq m. Nepal's hand-knotted woollen carpets are sold mainly in Europe and even this year's sales are not very encouraging. The Central Carpet Industry Association, basing projections on nine-month sales until mid-April 2001 (1.7 million sq m), says sales by the end of this year could fall by almost 13 percent compared to 2000. By the Nepal Rastra Bank's estimates, carpet exports brought in Rs 5.79 billion in mid-April 2001.