Steep rise in vegetable prices

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KATHMANDU, Jan 18 - Prices of vegetables in the valley have risen considerably within a year, according to price statistics, ending December 31, provided by Market Development Directorate, Department of Agriculture.

Except small-sized tomatoes and green chillies, prices of fresh vegetables have surged ranging from 3 to over 240 per cent. Vegetable prices in 1999 had declined by 18 to 50 per cent as compared to the prices of the previous year.

Vegetable retailers and wholesalers have attributed short supply of vegetables as the root cause behind price hike. "Prices of vegetables in the past one year has risen mainly due to short supply," says Rupak Maharjan, a retailer from Pulchowk.

The short supply of vegetables is in turn caused by low production. Farmers preferred to raise other crops when vegetable prices fell last year owing to excess production.

"Vegetable prices last year had dived considerably. Farmers could not even recover their investment prompting many to switch to farming wheat. Farmers shunned from growing vegetables this year thus contributing to the short supply," says Maharjan.

Maximum hike of 242 per cent took place in the price of cabbage, from Rs 3.50 per kg in 1999 to Rs 12 per kg in 2000. Cabbage price last year was 30 per cent lower than that in the previous year.

Similarly, prices of potatoes, large-sized tomatoes, onions, cauliflower, brinjal and beans too have gone up. However, small tomatoes and green chillies cost Rs 16 and Rs 13 per kg presently, both down from Rs 17 per kg last year.

NTB attends global travel fair

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KATHMANDU, Jan 18 - Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), leading a team of five private travel companies, participated in Vakantiebeurs 2001, the largest consumer travel exhibition in the world, held in Utrecht, The Netherlands from January 9-14, 2001.

The five private sector tourism companies participating the the fair were: Alternative Travel, Metro International Travel and Tours, Euro-Asia Tours and Travels, Explore Nepal Richa Tours and Travel and MD Publishing Co. Ltd., says a press release issued here today.

1600 exhibitors from more than 100 countries all over the globe participated in the fair. The approximate number of visitors to the fair was over two hundred thousand, out of which almost ten thousand visitors, including the trade and media people, visited Nepal stall and collected travel-related information, states the release.

NTB’s second participation in the fair was aimed at promoting Nepal’s image as a premier holiday destination to the Dutch market, which is already the sixth largest outbound market for Nepal in terms of the number of tourist arrival. In the year 2000, 11270 Dutch tourists visited Nepal, the release states.

Nepal received tremendous mileage during the fair from the broadcasting of a documentary film by the National Television of The Netherlands, which was produced during a familiarization trip between December 5-19, 2000, the release states.

During the fair, NTB distributed various promotional materials like CD-ROM, videotape, guidebooks, destination manuals and traveller’s’ information, among others, the release concludes.

Rising use of machine-made thread in carpets

By Bal Krishna Basnet

KATHMAMDU, Jan 18 - The mounting illegal use of machine-made woolen thread in the Nepalese Carpet, which is renowned in the European market as a 100 per cent hand-made product, has started hitting the entire carpet industry.

Concerned carpet entrepreneurs say that genuine carpet exporters are facing loss of millions due to the soaring use of machine-made thread which is of inferior quality to purely hand- made thread. Although it is illegal to produce machine-made carpet thread, it is most worrying that not only a single action has been initiated against those engaged in the producing manchine-made thread, due to lack of clear policy and commitment of the government.

"This is not only our problem - the entire national economy is suffering due to the widespread usage of machine-made thread in exportable carpets," says Durga Mishra, President of the Central Woolen Thread Entrepreneurs’ Association (CWTEA). He further said that on the one hand the government reiterates that the use of manchine-made thread in carpet illegal, yet on the other hand, it never takes the initiative to take action against those producers. Such inaction has caused losses of million rupees to the genuine manufacturers," he says.

The carpet industry, second largest overseas export after ready-made garments, currently generates employment opportunities for more than 200,000 people. The industry has special importance in the sense that it absorbs uneducated and untrained rural people and generates income opportunities for lower section of society.

The export of hand-made woolen carpets reached its peak in fiscal year 1993/94 with the export of over 3.3 million square metres, worth Rs 9.5 billion. However, the success gradually dwindled and within five years exports slumped to 2.5 million square metres. During the first four months of the current fiscal year, exports remained at just 750,000 square metres, which is 18.27 per cent less than the figure recorded during same period last year.

Some of the influential causes of such decline in carpet exports are widespread use of machine-made thread resulting in poor quality carpets, sliding competitiveness in the international market against similar products from India and China, and failure to change designs and patterns to capture the changing taste of Europeans. Carpet entrepreneurs too believe that uncontrolled use of machine-made thread is the major challenge to the long standing claim of Nepalese carpet that it is a ‘pure hand-made product.’ Mishra said "We are now marketing our product in the international market as complete hand-made product even though over 30 per cent of the total thread is machine-made thread." He questions "How long can we keep our buyers in dark?"

In 1995, the government published a notice in the gazette maintaining clearly that only hand-spun thread can be used in exportable hand-made woolen carpets and strictly prohibited the use of machine-made thread. However, entrepreneurs say that the lack of clear provisions about the action to be taken against those found using machine-made thread is the biggest obstacle to making Nepalese carpet a 100 per cent hand-made product.

Kalyan Bahadur Pradhan, Acting Secretary at the Ministry of Industry expresses his commitment to take proper actions as per the arrangement made in clause 25 of the Industrial Enterprises Act if found engaged in such illegal practices. "As per the act, we can even close down the factory." However, he says that there are practical difficulties when same authority works as a promoter and inspector."

The government established the Wool and Carpet Development Board some year ago with the objective of promoting carpet production and export, but its lack of action has so far failed to create a desired goal. The board, among others, has been authorized to recommend General Special Preference (GSP), an especial arrangement made by the European countries for preferential entry into its market.

Most entrepreneurs agree that the problem of using machine-made thread can be controlled to a large extent if the board stops issuing GSP for carpets manufactured by such thread. The present practice of issuing GSP for all carpet without detailed investigation is encouraging the users of machine-made thread,’ says Chering Sherpa, Vice President of the CWTEA.

Bank employees against mgmt handover

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MORANG, Jan 18 - The Nepal Bank Employees Association and the Rastriya Banijya Bank Employees Association Eastern Regional Committee Biratnagar, have formed a joint action committee to exert pressure on the government against its decision to hand over the management of Nepal Bank Limited and Rastriya Banijya Bank on contract to private parties.

The government decided last month to hand over the management of these two well-established Nepali banks on contract for initial period of two years for financial improvement and modernization starting in the month of Baishakh (April-May), after KPMG Basnet Group, and international auditing firm declared the two banks as technically insolvent last year.

The government is preparing to hand over management of these two ailing banks to a group consisting of five foreign bank specialists and three native specialists.

A joint meeting of the employees’ associations of the two banks was held Thursday and put together a 43-member joint action committee under the coordination of Biswombhar Raj Adhikari to exert pressure on the government to reconsider its decision. The joint action committee designated Ghan Shyam Poudel, Bishwombhar Raj Adhikari and Gyan Bahadur Basnet as the in-charges in Mechi, Koshi and Sagarmatha zones respectively.

The joint action committee also asked the in-charges to coordinate the forming of action committees in different districts and to begin exerting pressure on the government to reverse its decision.