The Rs 100-crore-plus hair-repurposing and processing industry in Murshidabad’s Beldanga, already reeling from losses in the coronavirus-induced lockdown, is now further hit by the India-China standoff in Ladakh.

China is their main customer for treated hair. But simmering anti-China sentiment and potential trade embargos following the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers at Galwan Valley on June 15 night have put roughly 2 lakh workmen and traders in the hair industry at risk.

District sources said nearly 15,000 tonne repurposed hair from India reaches China every year, 600 tonne of which is sourced from Murshidabad, making it a Rs 100-crore-plus industry here.

But the Galwan face off, the surging anti-China sentiment is putting small-scale export relationships such as this in jeopardy.

Hasanujjaman, 33, an exporter from Rejinagar, who employs 35 persons, confessed that he was a worried man.

“China is our main and only customer for discarded bundles of hair, which we process and repurpose. The Chinese use this treated hair in their wig industry. I paid my employees throughout the lockdown without earning anything. Just when things were picking up (in Unlock 1), the Galwan Valley face-off happened,” Hasanujjaman said.

Sources said Beldanga, Rejinagar and Bharatpur areas of the district were the main centres of hair processing.

In this trade, discarded and unused hair, mainly from salons across the country, are brought to units in Murshidabad where workers, including women, clean, resize and colour the hair with the help of machines.

The bundles of hair are then sold in bulk to Chinese businessmen who come to Beldanga and Rejinagar at select times of the year.

This year, starting late March, most Chinese businessmen abandoned the seasonal business owing to the Covid-19 threat.

Hasanujjaman, for instance, said his Chinese business partners had been “out of touch since late March”.

“Many of us have dues pending with the Chinese businessmen. We don’t know our fate,” he said. “Other than dues, I have plenty of unsold stock. It is a recipe for disaster,” he added.

Abbas Ali, 38, from Beldanga, said he had been in the hair processing trade for 18 years. According to Abbas, he used to make Rs 500 on a good day after paying his staff.

“But there are no more good days,” he rued. “I don’t know what the future holds. Too many young men are employed in this trade. If the trade dies suddenly, what will they do? I have nowhere to go with all my debts and my young employees have no alternative skill sets,” he said, referring to the scenario if trade with China ceases.

Another trader from Rejinagar, who refused to be named, said even if export to China formally did not stop, nearby residents might stigmatise traders like him for doing business with the Chinese. “It will be difficult to handle that.”