Production of quality coffee stressed
Dhankuta / Aug. 19: Coffee producers and experts have stressed on the production of quality coffee in order to expand its exports in the international market.
Speaking at a 3-day workshop organised by the European Union Nepal Trade Investment Programme (EUTIP) and Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) in Dhankuta that concluded on Friday, they said that quality of coffee should be maintained while increasing the production.
The programme was implemented by the International Trade Center (ITC) with the financial support of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) of Nepal, and Nepal Coffee Producers Association (NCPA).
The workshop discussed about the status of coffee sector, coffee export situation in the European Union and the United States, export process and necessary documents, trade facilitation and market promotion for coffee, modern methods of market analysis, trade map prepared for Nepal and possibilities and potential of coffee export from Nepal, informed Om Adhikari, President of NCPA.
He said that the future of Nepali coffee is good due to the growing demand in the domestic and foreign markets with the growing coffee culture and improved quality of the product.
Therefore, there is an immediate need to increase the production and supply capacity according to the demand and quality of the international market by emphasizing on quality, said Adhikari.
The workshop for the farmers and entrepreneurs of Koshi province was held with the main goal of increasing the competitiveness and international trade capacity of the small and micro enterprises with the information about non-tariff barriers and access to market-related information.
The workshop was organised for the farmers and traders of Koshi province on the process to be adopted for export with the aim of increasing the supply capacity of Nepali coffee producers and exporters for the international market. The organisers said that the export promotion was the main agenda of the programme.
In order to increase the export capacity of Nepali coffee traders, EU Nepal TIP has also prepared two separate guidelines for export facilitation targeting the European Union and the United States of America.
These guidelines contain the step-by-step process that Nepali exporters should follow while exporting coffee and the standards to be maintained as well as the process that importers should successfully complete in the respective destination countries.
Speaking on the occasion, Bhakta Raj Joshi, the Under Secretary of the MoICS, said that the demand of Nepali coffee is abundant in the international market and emphasised the need for businessmen to increase the production of coffee without compromising the quality.
He said that coffee is one of the main priorities of the Government of Nepal for export. Joshi emphasised that businesspersons and the government should cooperate to solve the problems seen in coffee production and export.
Although there is a demand of nearly 10,000 tons of coffee in the Nepali market, only 355 tons is produced, 100 tons is exported and 1100 tons is imported.
Coffee can be cultivated in 1.2 million hectares land in Nepal, but currently it is grown in only 3200 hectares land in 42 districts.