Jamshedpur, March 25: After sending consignments to United States, the state handloom department is now looking forward to despatch fresh orders to New Zealand.

This comes after some samples of the silk cloth were taken by a New Zealand based firm to show to a number of leading garment houses to help them finalise talks with the state handloom department.

On an earlier date, a consignment of 400 metres of tussar silk was ordered by Ahuja Sons, an export house based in Delhi, which supplies cloth to some companies in the US.

Currently, the department has received fresh orders from a Bangalore company, Nasrin Impex, to supply them with 400 metres more.

“It is definitely good news for us. The weavers are all set to benefit in the days to come,” said Dhirendra Kumar, the director of the state handloom department.

Sources at the handloom department added that samples were sent to the Bangalore and Delhi firms from places like Dehradun, Shimla and Uttar Pradesh to name a few but the firm decided on the material sent from Jharkhand based on its quality.

Once finalised, the state handloom department would despatch orders of the three different product varieties of silk fabric, silk stoles and silk ties.

“The product range might go up in the days to come. As of now, we would begin with steady supply of just these three varieties,” added the director.

The Delhi-based company is a regular customer of silk fabric from the state handloom department.

To improve the quality of manufactured products, the state handloom department regularly conducts expert training programmes involving weavers.

Currently, proposals to expand on the production units and areas of manufacture are on cards.

Though officials believe that new orders — be it from the country or foreign companies — only bring in good news and better returns for the state weavers, and also the state government in the longer run, they admit that there is a need to be better equipped in terms of production to meet the strict quality requirements of the orders that are coming in.