 |
|
| Kathmandu, Monday February 10, 2003 Magh 27, 2059. |
|
Delay in quota distribution affects copper industries
By Suresh Niraula
BIRATNAGAR, Feb 9 : The
export of copper-products has been largely affected due to the failure of Department of
Commerce (DoC) to timely distribute quota to copper industries for exporting the products
to India.
The export has faced a
severe downturn with the quantitative restrictions imposed by the renewed Nepal-India
Trade Treaty. Citing reasons of export surge, the Indian government had fixed a quota of
10,000 tons per annum on copper-products.
The government has been
hopelessly delaying in distributing the quota according to the Treaty. In the past ten
months, only six thousand tons of copper-products have been exported to India, according
to Khem Chandra Jain of Shivalaya Metal Industries. The DoC has distributed quota for two
thousand tons recently whereas another quota for 2 thousand tons is yet to be distributed.
Even the quota set for
the industries that are non-functioning in recent days have not been distributed to other
operating industries as the latter could not export with the quota distributed in the
eleventh hour, fearing that their good would be at stake, Jain said.
Though the DoC should
have distributed the quota immediately after the Treaty, it delayed the task by four
months and distributed the first and second quota collectively on July 16, 2002. Even the
third quota was allotted on October 14, 2002 delayed by more than a month than the fixed
date of September 5th. Also the fourth quota, previously scheduled for November 5th, was
delayed and distributed only on January 23, 2003. The deadline for the distribution of the
last quota is March 4 this year.
The delay in quota
distribution has affected the industries to a great extent. "Due to delay in quota
distribution, we had to completely halt the factory operation for about five months,"
claims Shyam Rathi, proprietor of Annapurna Bindings Wire and Annapurna Cables.
Out of the 43 Nepali
copper industries, only 30 are recently in operation. Out of 30, 16 are operating in
Biratnagar alone. The production capacity of these 30 industries is more than 35,000 tons
annually. The domestic market consumes hardly 20 percent of this amount.
Following the
imposition of quota system by India, which is the only major international market for
copper-products, the Nepali industries are compelled to slash their production by about 50
percent.
The imposition of quota
system has pushed down the export remarkably. Copper products worth Rs 230.97 million only
has been exported in the first ten months after the introduction of quota. This figure is
less than 65 per cent compared to the exports prior to the imposition of quota system.
Besides, the industries are seriously affected by the delay in the quota distribution
coupled with bureaucratic hassles.
Other Stories
|
