Kathmandu, November 29

The export of products listed under the Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS) has gone up slightly in the first four months of the current fiscal year despite the ballooning trade deficit of the country.

Trade statistics released by the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) today show that Nepal exported goods worth Rs 29.28 billion in the first quadrimester of fiscal year 2018-19 while imports stood at Rs 483.75 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of Rs 454.47 billion. However, performance of NTIS products was encouraging in review period as export of such products rose by 7.2 per cent.

Data shows that the country exported NTIS goods worth Rs 12.28 billion in the first four months of this fiscal year against Rs 11.46 billion worth of NTIS goods exported during the same period last year.

Nepal has listed various products and services that have a niche market advantage under NTIS and the government has been providing support for the development of products and services listed under the NTIS. Such products include cardamom, ginger, tea, medicinal and aromatic plants, fabrics, textiles, yarn, leather, footwear, pashmina and carpets.

Though export of these priority products has increased overall, export of cardamom, leather and footwear fell in review period. While export of cardamom dropped by 19.6 per cent to Rs 967 million in review period, export of leather and footwear fell by 57.5 per cent to Rs 137.4 million and by 18.7 per cent to Rs 315.6 million.

The export of medicinal and aromatic plants tops the TEPC’s export chart of NTIS products in the first four months of this fiscal recording an increase in export by 46.7 per cent compared to exports in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. The country exported medicinal and aromatic plants worth Rs 359 million in the review period. Similarly,

export of carpets went up by 18.5 per cent to Rs 2.81 billion and the export of different types of fabrics and textiles rose by 12.1 per cent to Rs 4.95 billion.

Likewise, the export of tea, ginger and pashmina increased by 11.8 per cent, 6.9 per cent and 5.4 per cent to Rs 1.55

billion, Rs 192 million and Rs 994 million, respectively.

Officials at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies stated that the government has been running various programmes targeting NTIS products which have boosted the export of the aforementioned priority products.