Ban on meat & fish causes financial loss

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BIRATNAGAR, Morang, March 4 - The ban on the import and sale of fish and meat products in the towns of this eastern district has resulted in an estimated daily loss of Rs 800,000 to Rs 1 million, according to businesses.

In keeping with the possible contagion of a mysterious disease, which broke out in the abutting Indian city of Siliguri two weeks ago, Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City completely prohibited the import and sale of meat and fish products from Friday.

Following suit, Kakarbhitta, Birtamod, Dhlulabari Dharan and Itahari, most of the village development committees (VDCs) on the skirts of the East-West Highway have begun imposing a ban on fish and meat products.

The consumption of around 6 tons of meat and fish products has came to a halt in Biratnagar and the sale of similar amount of liquor has also gone down since Friday in the area.

Rajan Shrestha, Vice-President of Hotel Association Biratnagar says whether the unknown disease is communicated through meat and fish had to be ascertained before imposing a complete ban on their import and sale.

"Meat and fish items make more than 70 per cent of transactions in hotels. It may be right to ban the import of fish and meat from the adjoining city, but it is a folly to prohibit the sale of local meat", Shrestha says.

Apart from the butchers, importers, hoteliers and restaurant owners, the interdiction has also badly affected the sale of liquor, which is taken as complementary to meat and fish items.

According Manohar Dewan, operator of Hotel Karun at ward no. 19 of the sub-metropolis, says following the ban, the sale of alcoholic drinks has gone down by 90 percent.

"It is not a good decision to ban the import and sale of fish and meat products, but it might have been imposed on humanitarian grounds. That’s why we have accepted it," says Manohar Kumar Pradhan, Chairman of Morang Liquor Entrepreneurs Association.

Since the ban is indefinite, it may invite a situation for most of liquor sellers to switch to other jobs for their sustenance, he further says.

However, a restaurateur at the Traffic Chowk in Biratnagar, preferring anonymity, says, "Meat is being imported clandestinely, but the consumers do not eat for fear of possible contagion of the mysterious disease".

District Police Office, the sub-metropolis and the community organizations are monitoring the market for better effectiveness of the ban imposed on the import and sale of fish and meat.

Carrot producers suffer from lack of market  

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HETAUDA, March 4 - Despite a good production, farmers cultivating carrots in this district are worried by a lack of market and lower price of their products compared to the last year.

A large number of farmers in the outskirts of Hetauda Municipality have cultivated carrots but due to a lack of market, some of the farmers of Hatiya village are forced to feed it to their cattle.

Even the ones finding market are forced to sell their products at a very low price, but they are quite a few.

Indra Dhungel of ward no. 5 of Hetauda Municipality is one of those farmers. The production of carrot is good this year, but the price is not as good as it was last year, says Dhungel.

He has cultivated improved variety of carrot importing seeds from the Netherlands in 10 kattha of land. Had the price been as high as that of last year’s, I could have earned around 300 thousand rupees, he says.

In the beginning, Dhungel sold carrots at Rs 30 per kg, but there has been steady decline in its price and has come down to Rs 15 this time, in the local market, he says.

Owing to the sharp decline in the market price, Dhungel expects to earn 150 thousand rupees from his produces this year.

Twenty-two year old Dhungel works in his field during the day time and goes to college in the morning.

Carrots can be cultivated grown in fields with good irrigation facility and it is ready for consumption within two and a half months. Dhungel has grown a carrot weighing even one kg has been selling his produces in Hetauda alone.

Though carrots can be eaten in many ways, most of the consumers take it as salad and a few use it for preparing pickle.

Economy, finance and market

By Supa Upadhyay

Domestic money market:

The Average Weighted Discount Rate (AWDR) at 91-day Treasury Bills (TBs) dipped sharply by 38 basis points to 4.57 percent compared to the previous week. The rupee was traded higher at 98.89 and lower at 98.84 for 91-day TBs. The NRB had received 40 bids worth NPR 2900 million against the notified amount NPR 890 million for 91-day TBs. In the regular weekly auction, the NRB is going to issue 91-day TBs worth NPR 850 million and 364-day TBs Worth NPR 400 million on March 06, 2001.

Domestic capital market:

This week also the prices of many banks, finance companies and Insurance companies nose-dived further. It was noted that the prices of many companies were moving upward during past few months without any proper reason. Now, after the announcement of dividend for the FY 2056/57 by many companies lower than the expectation, the share prices start to fall. The share prices of Himalayan Bank and Nepal Grindlays Bank fell by about NPR 600 after their book closure. Himalayan Bank announced 25 percent bonus share plus 35 percent final dividend while the Grindlays Bank has allotted 100 percent cash dividend. However, the NIC Bank failed to provision any dividend so far for the FY 2056/57. The NEPSE Index-100 opened lower at 398.00 from the previous week close of 402.53 slipped sharply at 375.29 in second day and eventually closed lower at 377.20 for the week, neeting a loss of 25.33 points. This week, trading was estimated at 36289 shares valued NPR 29.4 million compared to 48523 shares valued NPR 43.3 million of previous week. Commercial banks shared 90.87 percent of total traded amount. This week, the Index of Commercial Banks, Finance/Insurance Sector, Hotel sector and other Sector lost. While Business Sector and Production Sector remains unchanged at their previous week price. This week, brokers had quoted the prices of 48 companies on the trading board but only 31 companies were traded. Out of thirty-one traded companies, six companies improved, twenty-one companies lost and other four traded companies remianed unchanged at their previous prices. Bank of Kathmandu, Nabil Bank and NIC Bank registered the first, the second and the third most traded company trading 7031, 5281 and 3900 shares respectively. Share of Nabil Bank, Nepal SBI Bank, Nepal B'desh Bank, Everest Bank, Bank of Kathmandu, NIC Bank, Taragaon Regency Hotel, Necon Air and Lumbini Finance & Leasing were able to trade in all four working days. Likewise, Nepal Bank Ltd, Nepal Indosuez Bank, Premier Insurance and Kathmandu Finance were able to trade in three working days.

Forex round-up:

Last week saw both the EUR and GBP test the down side agianst the USD but, this week, once again both have recovered sharply helped by US equity market weakness. Last wek, volatility was dramatically increased early in the week as the crisis in the Turkish economy came to the fore. Speculation and rumor about what may or may not have been done or needed to be done by the Turkish banks in EUR/USD was the cause of this volatility. The Euro has also helped by stronger manufacturing data this week. The JPY once again lost its ground against the USD as the bad news piles up on Japan. The market showing no sign of confidence in the government’s proposed stimulus package, due next week. The INR and NPR both remain unchanged at their previous prices against the dollar over the week.

FNCSI condemns police attack

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KATHMANDU, March 4 - Federation of Nepalese Cottage and Small Industries (FNCSI) issuing a press release has condemned the police for attacking Yuddha Bahadur Pant, Ram Chandra Neupane and Krishna Narayan Shrestha.

Yuddha Bahadur Pant is the central member of the FNCSI, Ram Chandra Neupane is the Tanahun District Chairman of the Federation and Krishna Narayan Shrestha is the General Secretary of the district federation.

According to the release, police opened fire on them at 7 p.m. at Simdibar, near Bhoteodar on the Dumre-Beshishahar road on 25 February, while they were returning home from a three-day industrial exhibition on that day, alleges the Federation.

"At first some unknown persons opened fire on their Maruti car from rear. Shortly after that three armed police came towards them. Seeing armed police they felt relieved, but to their horror, they again opened fire on them. Thankfully, they escaped the attack", states the release.

Later, they complained the district chief of police and the Chief district officer, but they turned deaf ear to their complaint and the concerned bodies have taken no step towards taking action against the wrongdoers, the release further says.

The Federation condemns the cowardly attack on them and strongly demands with the government to immediately investigate into the incident and take action against the miscreants, concludes the release.