ZCZC
BCN-18
NEPAL-CHINA-BORDER-TRADE
Nepal, China trade grows after reopening of border point
KATHMANDU, Dec. 2, 2019 (BSS/Xinhua) – Trade has been on the rise between
Nepal and China after the reopening of Tatopani-Zhangmu border point earlier
this year, according to data from Nepal’s Department of Customs.
The border point had been out of service since Nepal’s deadly earthquake in
2015 before it was resumed in May this year.
Bilateral trade through the border point stood at around 4 million U.S.
dollars as of mid-July when the 2018-19 fiscal year ended. As of mid-November
since the start of the 2019-20 fiscal year, total trade through the route has
reached about 20 million U.S. dollars.
The figure was still low compared to that of the Rasuwagadhi-Geelong border
point, but officials and traders believed the volume would grow eventually.
Nepal exported goods worth around 3 million U.S. dollars through Rasuwagadhi-
Geelong border point and imported goods worth about 160 million U.S. dollars
during the first four months of this fiscal year.
“Trade through the Tatopani border point is on the rise,” Krishna Bahadur
Basnet, chief customs officer of Tatopani Customs told Xinhua earlier this
week. “As a result, my office collected revenue worth 225,910 U.S. dollars in
the first month of current fiscal and total revenue grew to 2.43 million U.S.
dollars during the four-month period.”
According to Basnet, most of the imported goods from China through the
Tatopani border point were agriculture products such as apples. “Industrial
goods have also been imported through this border point but at a very limited
quantity,” he said, noting that importers have not been confident enough to
import through this route because of the prolonged closure before its
reopening.
Nepali officials and traders said the trade volume grew significantly
because there is a dry port at Larcha near Tatopani border point, which eases
the procedure and the containers do not have parking problem.
“I can predict that in the next one and a half years, we will see the trade
volume comparable to the volume before the earthquake,” said Bachhu Poudel,
president of Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association, a grouping of
traders involved in Nepal-China trade.
The Tatopani border point had been the main route for inland trade between
Nepal and China before its closure in 2015. Around 25 percent of Nepal’s
total trade with China took place through this border point as of fiscal year
2013-14, according to the Department of Customs.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1420