Govt in Nepal partially lifts restriction on import of peppercorns, peas, dates, and betel nuts

Published 2021년 3월 19일

Tridge summary

The government of Nepal has lifted import restrictions on peppercorns, peas, dates, and betel nuts, but with a quota system. The annual quota for betel nut and pepper is 15,000 tons each, and 5,000 tons for dates. This decision was made to prevent a drop in foreign currency reserves following a lockdown last year. The restrictions were previously imposed due to concerns about smuggling to India, especially after traders started importing these goods from third countries to resell in the Indian market, taking advantage of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement's zero tariffs provision.

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Original content

KATHMANDU, March 19: The government has eased the restriction on the import of peppercorns, peas, dates and betel nuts on condition. Urmila KC, assistant spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, said a Cabinet meeting of March 9 decided to allow the import of these items through imposing quota restriction. In the new provision, traders can now import 15,000 tons each of betel nut and pepper and 5,000 tons of dates annually. “The quota restriction is applied for the bulk import made for industrial use,” she said. In order to prevent the possible fall in foreign currency reserve after the imposition of the lockdown on March 24 last year, the government completely banned the import of the expensive edibles along with luxury vehicles. Traders import these goods from third countries and significant quantities of these imports are found to be smuggled to India. Taking advantage of the provision of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement, many Nepali ...

Source: Nagariknetwork