Traders worry about disturbed supply from China

Kathmandu, Aug. 21

As China extended lockdown in Tibet Autonomous Region, worries of traders and importers in Nepal have amplified.

The expanding COVID-19 infection in Tibet and subsequent lockdown has affected the goods import targeting the upcoming festival season. Nepal-bound containers are stuck there since August 10. The lockdown was first implemented for a 3-day period and extended multiple times.

According to the traders, about 150 containers are waiting to enter Nepal from Rawuwagadhi and Tatopani border points, the two bilateral trade routes between Nepal and China.

Nepal National Federation of Entrepreneurs (NNFE) on Sunday urged the government to take initiative to resolve the problem and facilitate the smooth cross-border movement of goods from China to Nepal.

According to it, while the entrepreneurs are facing challenges to import goods due to the shortage of foreign exchange, the failure to bring goods to Nepal might cost them dearly. If the situation on the northern border persisted for long, many entrepreneurs-traders will be forced to leave their business, it said.

President of NNFE, Kumar Karki, said in a statement that the organisation's attention has been drawn to the stopping of goods from China to Nepal, and no export from the latter to the northern neighbour. "Although the bilateral trade relations between the two countries have been cordial since long, there have been some problems at the Tatopani and Keyrung border points for a while," said Karki.

President of Nepal Foreign Trade Association, Sunil Bansal, said that although the goods are stuck due to the coronavirus pandemic, the entrepreneurs here have begun to face crisis. While there will be a delay in the arrival of the festival-targeted goods, there is a risk of the damage of the perishable goods such as apples.

Entrepreneurs have urged the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to help in the matter. Spokesperson of the MoICS, Dr. Narayan Prasad Regmi, said that the ministry is aware of the situation and government has already communicated about the situation and concerns to the Chinese side.

"Tibet is under lockdown which is an untoward situation. The ministry has communicated with the concerned authorities in China," he said.

Meanwhile, there have been zero exports from Nepal to China through Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi border. Exports to China have been continuously disturbed since the COVID-19 erupted in China in December 2019.

In the last fiscal year 2021/22, Nepal imported goods worth Rs. 26.62 billion from China through Rasuwagadhi and Rs. 14.02 billion from Tatopani.

Nepal witnesses the trade deficit of Rs. 163.97 billion. Nepal imported goods worth Rs. 264.78 billion from China and exported goods of just Rs. 808 million. The export value to India in the last fiscal is Rs. 155.22 billion, to United States is Rs. 17.99 billion, to Canada is Rs. 1.12 billion and to Australia is Rs. 1.16 billion. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on August 22, 2022.