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Natural dyes are obtained from renewable resources and the application of these dyes contributes to the conservation of the nature. The ban imposed on the usage of synthetic dyes by Germany in 1995 has lead to the reinvention of natural dyes throughout the world. Due to ecological problems encountered with synthetic dye usage, few azo dyes are banned globally creating problems to the industries especially textile industry that produces lot of bright textiles.

The total size of the world market for dyes, pigments and intermediaries is estimated at around US $ 23 billion per year. Dyes and pigments constitute the largest segment with a market size of 1.3 million tonnes and a market value of US $ 16 billion. The vegetable dyes constitute US $ 0.03 billion and is expected to grow in coming years.

Globally, the total import of the natural dyes, which is about 3500 million tons per year, works out to be 0.4% of synthetic dyes. The import of natural dyes to EU countries was 5300 tons per year, which is about 0.53% of synthetic dyes. As per the available data (2002), Europe imports US $ 53 million worth of natural dyes. The major importing countries are Germany (32%), France (17%), Italy (14%), USA (12%) and the U.K. (10%). The largest suppliers are Mexico, Peru, China and India each with about US $ 15 million exports to Europe.

The natural dye industry was nearly vanished towards the middle of 19th Century and since then it is practiced in few pockets of the selected states in the country. As per the reports, there are around 6500 artisans (mostly village artisans & tribal people) who are practicing this trade today against as high as 3 lakhs artisans in middle of 19th Century. Most of the artisans have left this traditional work because of non-availability of sufficient work and uneconomical financial returns owing to the introduction of synthetic dyes. Consequently the expertise once practiced by the artisans is lost due to poor documentation. As per the recent reports, the international demand of vegetable dyed textiles including carpets is envisaged to rise by 33%. India being a hub for various natural dye products, should strive forward to expand and bag the benefit of current situation.

Andhra Pradesh is well known for printed fabrics with natural dyes. Around 12,50,000 meters of cloth per annum is made in natural dyes. The production is unorganized and there are no manufacturers that supply large quantities of natural dyed and printed textiles. The major gaps found in this production to consumption value chain are improper management of natural dye sources, poor adopted technology, lack of commercial availability of natural dyes and its products, limited awareness levels amongst different end user segments, lack of standards for quality and eco-friendly certification of Natural dyes.

To address these gaps and to establish a feasible model, the project on ‘Value Chain in Natural Dyes’ is emerged.