Trade deficit reaches Rs. 568b despite export increase by 104% n Four Months

Kathmandu / Nov. 28: Despite significant increase in export, the country’s trade deficit has widened in the first four 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 56.83 per cent to Rs. 568.17 billion during the review period.

According to the Foreign Trade Statistics of the Department of Customs, export trade has increased by 104.29 per cent to Rs. 82.12 billion during the first four months (mid-July to mid-November 2021) of the current fiscal year.

Nepal had exported goods worth Rs. 40.2 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

Meanwhile, import trade increased by 61.57 per cent to Rs. 650.29 billion during the review period. In the same period of the last fiscal year, the country imported goods worth Rs. 402.49 billion.

With the increase in exports, its contribution to total trade also increased from 9.08 per cent to 11.21 per cent during the review period. The share of export in the total trade has decreased to 88.79 per cent. According to the statistics, total foreign trade has also increased. The country’s foreign trade volume has reached Rs. 732.41 billion during the review period which is 65.45 per cent more than the previous year.

Soybean oil accounted for the largest share of export during the review period. Soybean oil worth Rs. 26.4 billion has been exported in the first four months of the current fiscal year.

Similarly, palm oil is the second most exported commodity after soybean oil. Palm oil worth Rs. 14.7 billion has been exported during the review period.

Cardamom worth Rs. 1.6 billion, yarns worth Rs. 3.75 billion, tea and coffee worth Rs. 1.7 billion, carpet worth Rs. 3 billion, felts worth Rs. 2 billion and sunflower seeds and oil worth Rs. 2.03 billion have been exported during the review period.

Diesel is the most imported commodity in the first four months of the current fiscal year. Diesel worth Rs. 34.33 billion has been imported during the period.
Meanwhile, petrol worth Rs. 18.66 billion, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) worth Rs. 17.43 billion and aviation fuel worth Rs. 3 billion have been imported.

The country imported crude soybean oil worth Rs. 27.27 billion, crude palm oil worth Rs. 19.37 billion, crude sunflower worth Rs. 7.27 billion and sugar worth Rs. 3 billion during the review period.
Similarly, maize worth Rs. 6.91 billion, paddy and rice worth Rs. 13.19 billion and wheat worth Rs. 2 billion have been imported.