According to traders, cashew nut, black cardamom and peanuts are among the popular dry fruits seeing sharp rise in their prices over the period. Bibek Chaulagain, a trader at New Road, said prices of cashew nuts and coconut rose to Rs 600 per kg and Rs 140 kg from Rs 500 and Rs 130 kg respectively. [break]
“Prices of black cardamom and cardamom also saw sharp rise over the period with the price touching Rs 500 and Rs 1600 per kg from Rs 400 and Rs 900 per kg respectively during the period,” said Chaulagain.
Chaulagain said domestic demand of black cardamom is fulfilled by local production, while cardamom is imported from South American nation Guatemala.
Peanuts and date fruits (chhokada) also became dearer over the period with the price reaching Rs 75 and Rs 95 per kg from Rs 75 and Rs 65 per kg respectively recorded a month ago. Price of Nepali fennel and Indian fennel increased to Rs 125 and Rs 200 per kg from Rs 90 and Rs 145 per kg respectively.
Chaulagain also said price of almond and clove shot up to Rs 620 and Rs 520 per kg from Rs 540 and Rs 450 per kg respectively over the period. Nepal imports almond from California in US and clove from India.
However, traders said prices of betel nut, dried grapes and black sesame seed wend down during the period. Betel nut and dried grape are selling for Rs 160 and Rs 180 per kg from, down from Rs 190 and Rs 200 per kg recorded a month ago.
Traders mostly import betel nut and dried grapes from India and China respectively.
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