Yarn, woollen carpet, textiles, readymade garments and juices topped Nepal’s export list in the fiscal year 2012-13. The products that topped the imports are petroleum products, iron and steel, machinery and parts, gold, electronics and electrical equipments according to the Trade and Promotion Export Centre (TEPC) that records the country’s export and imports. However, the overall import figure surpasses the export figures many times over, leading to a trade deficit of Rs 523 billion. The TEPC data shows that the country exported yarn (polyester, cotton and others) worth Rs 5.83 billion in the fiscal year 2012-13. Despite securing the top spot in exports, the figure is lower compared to the previous fiscal year, when the volume stood at Rs 6.32 billion. The second biggest export, woollen carpet, also saw a drop of 5.7 percent. The products export figure was Rs 5.66 billion in the last fiscal year against Rs 6 billion the year prior. The export of textiles rose by 3.5 percent to 5.39 billion, while readymade garments saw a drop in exports, down to Rs 3.82 billion from Rs 4.05 billion, during the period. Uday Raj Pandey, president of the Garment Association Nepal (GAN), said that the garment industry has a bleak future. “Even the factories currently operating are running under capacity and taking a lesser amount of orders, fearing the consequences if they fail to deliver them on time.” According to the GAN, around 50 percent of the readymade garments manufactured in the country are exported to European nations. Export to the United States and India accounts for around 20 percent each, while the remaining 10 percent goes to countries including Australia and Japan. The country made export earnings worth Rs 77.35 billion in the fiscal year 2012-13, with India receiving goods worth Rs 51.78 billion. Among the imports, petroleum products were once again in high demand. Nepal imported petroleum products worth a whooping Rs 111.12 billion in the last financial year, an increment of 14.5 percent since last year. In the 2011-12 financial year, the country imported petroleum products worth Rs 97.03 billion. Despite an abundance of domestic iron and steel industries, these products were the second highest import, equating to Rs 57.40 billion, up from Rs 49.64 billion last year. “There has been industrial development in this sector, and we have to depend on imported raw materials,” said Bal Krishna Shrestha, former president of the Nepal Steel Rolling Mills Association. He added the domestic industries do not manufacture all iron and steel components, which has contributed to the rise in imports. Machinery and parts, which imports decreased in 2011-12, showed a gigantic leap last year with the import volume growing by 27 percent. The imports figure stood at Rs 33.44 billion, up from Rs 26.34 billion. Likewise, transport vehicles and parts imports stood at Rs 32.3 billion, equating to a growth of 35.1 percent. Strict regulations implemented by the Nepal Rastra Bank on gold import resulted in comparatively poor figures. In the last fiscal year, the country imported the precious yellow metal to a worth of Rs 26 billion, up from Rs 25.77 billion.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 03:05:22 +0000
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