"Ginger price has dropped in the district by over 37 percent for last couple of weeks to reach Rs 25 per kg which is far lower than the purchase price. Traders suffered huge losses due to the abrupt decline in ginger price," Krishna Poudel, a local ginger trader said. [break]
Poudel said local traders have lost around Rs 8 million with the fall in the ginger price. "We are forced to sell ginger at the price below our purchase price. We can´t wait for the price to go up as ginger is perishable product,” added Poudel.
Traders had bought tons of ginger from farmers at Rs 40 per kg. "There is no facility of cold storage to protect ginger from decaying," Poudel said.
Traders have attributed unexpected price fall in the local market to massive inflow of ginger into the market from farmers. “Huge flow of ginger from farmers this year is the key reason behind the fall in the price," he said. Traders have piled up ginger sacks on the roadside in main market Biblyate.
During the previous harvest, price of ginger had gone up as lower production jacked up the price in India, key buyer of Nepali ginger.
"The price went up steeply since the production in different parts of India such as Panjab, Sikkim and Assam was reported lower than previous years. However, the lucrative price couldn´t sustained as Nepali farmers reaped bumper ginger harvest," Poudel said.
Dwarika Agrawal, another trader from the local market complained that he lost Rs 1.5 million amid unexpected fall in ginger price in the local market.
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