Nepal's agricultural imports more than double in seven years
"Republic" reported on July 28: Nepal imported agricultural products worth 378.6 billion rupees in the 2021/22 fiscal year, an increase of 55 billion rupees from the import bill in the previous fiscal year.
According to the statistics of the customs department, the import cost of agricultural products in Nepal is increasing year by year. Rs 32,366 crore of agricultural products were imported in FY 2020/21; Rs 24,300 crore worth of agricultural products were imported in FY 2019/20, an increase of 8.48% over the cost of FY 2018/19; 150 billion rupees.
The food import bill stood at Rs 7,428 crore in the last fiscal. Among them, imported rice was 47.57 billion rupees and corn was 19.65 billion rupees. The import bill for vegetables was Rs 3,654 crore and about Rs 2,500 crore for fruit. Rs 904 crore for tea and coffee and Rs 215 crore for dairy products.
The import bill for agricultural products accounted for 19.71% of total imports in FY 2021/22. Meanwhile, agricultural products worth Rs 12,551 crore were exported, accounting for 63% of export earnings.