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| Export earnings from NTIS products drop |
Nepal earned Rs24.6 billion from exports of NTIS products in 2016-17 compared to Rs25.26 billion in 2015-16, Trade and Export Promotion Center (TEPC)’s statistics show.
Commerce Secretary Naindra Prasad Upadhyaya said that the export performance of the new list of exportable goods was yet to be observed. “We launched a programme to boost exports of the products in the segment just last year,” Upadhyaya said.
The NTIS is one of the ambitious programmes launched by the government to promote products and services having high export potential. Following poor performance of the goods identified in the NTIS 2010, the government revised the list in September 2016.
The latest NTIS has identified nine goods as having a comparative advantage. They are woolen carpet, cardamom, ginger, tea, medicinal herbs, hides and skins, footwear, pashmina and yarn and textile.
TEPC records show that export earnings from six out of the nine goods fell during the review period. Exports of ginger, medicinal herbs and pashmina, in particular, saw a steep drop.
Over the review period, ginger exports fell 46.7 percent to Rs215.59 million while the medicinal herbs exports plunged 40.8 percent to Rs670.54 million.
Upadhyaya said that restrictions placed by India on Nepali ginger exports a few months ago had affected shipments.
The southern neighbour is the main market for Nepali ginger. India had banned Nepali ginger for a few weeks last September citing presence of chemical residue in Nepali farm products.
Likewise, earnings from pashmina exports shrank to Rs2.33 billion from Rs2.01 billion. According to the Nepal Pashmina Industries Association, a sharp fall in demand from European markets hit exports this year. “With the European market in a recession, the country’s pashmina business was particularly affected,” said Vijay Dugar, vice-president of the association.
Similarly, export values of cardamom and footwear each declined 10.8 percent while woolen carpet witnessed a drop of 7.8 percent.
Yarn and textile recorded the highest export earnings in the first 10 months.
Revenues surged 17 percent to Rs8.16 billion. Similarly, tea exports increased 9.2 percent to Rs2.11 billion.
Earnings from raw and processed hides swelled 4.9 percent to Rs608 million.
According to the National Tea and Coffee Development Board, demand for Nepali tea has been soaring mainly from China.
As per the board, a number of Chinese traders have been involved in promoting Nepali tea in several other countries including Australia.
source: kathmandupost
