The country’s foreign trade has increased by 63.55 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal year,
The foreign trade of the country, which was Rs. 575.55 billion in the first five months of the last fiscal year, has reached Rs. 941.32 billion in the corresponding period of the current fiscal year.
According to the latest data released by the Department of Customs, imports have increased by 59.55 per cent to Rs. 838.40 billion during the review period.
In the same period of the last fiscal year, the country imported goods worth Rs. 525.49 billion.
Meanwhile, export trade increased by 105.61 per cent to Rs. 102.92 billion during the review period. In the same period of the last fiscal year, the country exported goods worth Rs. 50.05 billion.
Despite significant increase in export, the country’s trade deficit has widened in the first five months of the current fiscal year. The main reason behind this is the low volume of exports compared to imports.
The country’s trade deficit has increased by 54.7 per cent to Rs. 735.48 billion during the review period. The trade deficit in the first five months of last year was Rs. 475.44 billion.
With the increase in exports, the share of exports to total trade also increased from 8.70 per cent to 10.93 per cent during the review period.
The share of imports in the country’s total foreign trade during the first five months of last fiscal year was 91.3 per cent, which decreased by 2.45 per cent to 89.07 per cent in the current fiscal year.
According to the Department, diesel was the most imported petroleum product in the first five months of the current fiscal year. It is seen that diesel import has reached Rs. 49.02 billion till mid-December of the current fiscal year.
Similarly, crude soybean oil stood second among the imported goods. Entrepreneurs in Nepal have been importing crude soybean oil from different countries, processing it and re-exporting the same.
In the first five months of the current fiscal year, crude soybean oil worth Rs. 33.66 billion was imported. The country imported crude palm oil worth Rs. 24.61 billion, petrol worth Rs. 24.10 billion and LP gas worth Rs. 23.11 billion.
Meanwhile, maize worth Rs. 9.39 billion, paddy and rice worth Rs. 19.8 billion and wheat worth Rs. 2.62 billion had been imported.
Soybean oil accounted for the largest share of exports during the review period. Soybean oil worth Rs. 30.55 billion has been exported in the first five months of the current fiscal year.
Like soybean oil, palm oil was also exported after importing raw materials and processing.
Palm oil is the second most exported commodity after soybean oil. Palm oil worth Rs. 27.42 billion had been exported during the review period.
Similarly, carpets worth. Rs. 3.73 billion and cardamom worth Rs. 2.01 billion, yarns worth Rs. 5 billion, tea and coffee worth Rs. 2.1 billion, felts worth Rs. 2.5 billion and sunflower seeds and oil worth Rs. 2.35 billion had been exported during the review period.
Source : TRN,
