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| Kathmandu, Tuesday June 10, 2003 Jestha 27, 2060. |
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Total exports increase
marginally in 3rd quarter
Post Report
KATHMANDU, June 9 : Clearly indicating the
revival of the economy lately, the overall exports, which plunged into a series of
downturn spirals for last two years, witnessed a marginal, but positive growth during the
third quarter of the current fiscal year.
According to the trade statistics of Nepal
Rastra Bank (NRB), despite a decline in exports to India, the largest trading partner of
Nepal, a healthy double-digit growth in the third country exports greatly anchored the
overall exports to record a growth of one per cent.
The total exports to India during the period
went down by 7.9 per cent to Rs 21.03 billion against Rs 22.84 billion recorded during the
same period last year. The third country exports, however, recorded a growth of 15 per
cent to Rs 16.54 billion.
Similarly, the total imports continued its
positive growth trend and touched Rs 91.36 billion, which is 15 per cent more than last
year’s figure. Of the total, imports from Indian swelled by over 26 per cent to Rs
40.14 billion while third country imports also increased by 7.5 per cent to Rs 51.22
billion.
However, as a result of high growth in imports
compared to marginal rise in exports, trade deficit recorded a rise of Rs 53.79 billion,
which is over 27 per cent higher than last year’s figure. On the sectoral basis,
trade deficit with India skyrocketed by over 113 per cent to Rs 19.11 billion while such
deficit with third countries went up by 4 per cent to Rs 34.68 billion.
Propelled by the growths in both exports and
imports, the total foreign trade grew by 10.5 per cent to Rs 128.94 billion. The total
trade with India and third country rose by 12 per cent and 9.3 per cent respectively.
While analyzing sectoral composition of the
total foreign trade, the participation of India and third countries in the total trade
remained almost constant. Indian participation last year was almost 48.43 per cent, which
during the current year declined nominally to remain at 47.44 per cent. Similarly, the
participation of third countries in the total trade plummeted to 52.56 per cent, which
during last year was 51.57 per cent.
Among the goods exported to India, despite a
whopping tumble of over 42 per cent, vegetable ghee continued to secure first position
followed by jute goods and thread. During the period, vegetable ghee worth Rs 3.81 billion
was exported to India while, jute goods stood as the second largest export to India with
export value of Rs 1.49 billion, which was 25.4 per cent greater than last year’s
export.
Similarly, with a surge of over 42 per cent,
thread maintains third position in the export list to India with Rs 855 million, while the
exports of pulses slipped by almost 2.4 per cent to Rs 801 million.
On third country exports, readymade garment
export recorded a robust growth of almost 52 per cent to Rs 9.08 billion and maintained
number one position. However, carpet, the second largest export, suffered a double-digit
decline of over 20 per cent to remain at Rs 3.8 billion against Rs 4.77 billion of last
year. Similarly, pashmina products recorded a decline of 8.5 per cent to Rs 926 million
On the import front, textile topped the list
with import value of Rs 3.28 billion, which is a rise of 36 per cent. Along with a decline
of around 18 per cent vehicles and spare parts secured the second position with a total
import value of Rs 2.77 billion while with an increase of 4.3 per cent, MS Billet stood at
third position with the import value of Rs 2.46 billion.
Similarly, petroleum products continued to top
the list of the third country imports followed by crude palm oil and polythene granules.
During the period, petroleum products worth Rs 12.49 billion was imported, which was 44.8
per cent more than last year’s import. Crude palm oil imports during the period also
increased by over 17 per cent to Rs 4.08 billion.
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