KATHMANDU: No amount of effort by the government can reduce the price of consumer goods, top government officials and consumer right defenders said today. The market monitoring and inspection mechanisms will not work as there is already a huge food deficit in the country, they said in a interaction here.

The Nepali market is full of malpractices, said Dr Yub Raj Khatiwada, vice-chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC). There are three problems — unnatural price hike, low weight and substandard goods — in the market, he said. “The skyrocketing price hike cannot be controlled without bridging the food deficit,” he said.

Nepal has an acute shortage of food grains equal to 1,63,000 MT in 2008-09, which has fuelled price hike up to 38 per cent in basic consumer goods between March and June. Nepal’s consumer goods market is around Rs 850 billion.

The government is drafting policy papers to curb malpractices. “We are preparing scientific definitions of stock, as without this we cannot control carteling and black marketing,” he said. The government is also seeking food from India to reduce the gap between demand and supply. India has asked how much quantity we need, he added.

The Ministry of Commerce and Supply (MoCS), that is working on maximum retail price (MRP) of basic consumer goods listed in Black Market and Other Social Offence Act, has listed 29 items including rice, wheat, lentils, edible oil, sugar and petroleum products. “MoCS is preparing MRP of basic goods for Nepal,” said Ganesh Dhakal, MoCS spokesperson, “A taskforce is working on it.”

Consumer rights defender Jyoti Baniya demanded strong presence of the government in market. “There is a clear gap between demand and supply so the middlemen (cartelers) are benefiting,” he said. The government presence in market (monitoring and intervention) is almost nil, he added. “The government’s ongoing friendly monitoring cannot curb the price hike,” he said.

Chartered Accountant Suman Chaudhary urged MoCS to reduce the number of middlemen in market. “MoCS must promote direct selling mechanism or reduce agents between manufacturer and consumer,” he said, “Our major problem is too many middlemen.”

The market supply chain depends on four factors — manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer and consumer.