NEW YORK—Pushpa Kamal “Prachanda” Dahal, the newly appointed prime minister of rug making country Nepal, stopped by ABC Carpet & Home during his mission to promote trade development and expansion with the U.S. and to assist with his country’s economic progress.

Accompanied by several executive members of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Dahal addressed the current state of the country’s rug industry and emerging labor problem.

U.S. demand for Nepalese rugs has increased 12% over the last year, but with labor parties demanding wage increases up to 25% there is a fear the added operating costs would force factories to shut down.

In fact, according to the Trade and Export Promotion Centre of Nepal, wool carpets are the country’s largest export item, accounting for 30% of all commodities.

“An industry-wide solution needs to be devised to preserve the vitality of the handmade carpet business in Nepal and abroad,” said Alex Kimia, vice president of ABC Carpet, who noted Nepalese rugs “are very important to our business.”

ABC, one of the industry’s largest retailers, is actually one of the leading importers of rugs from Nepal with over 25% of its stock coming from that country. ABC has been directly importing from Napal for more than 10 years, he explained, and runs production orders with over 25 vendors and stock from more than 75 Nepalese suppliers.

To learn more, call ABC at 212.473.3000.