Excess imports led to supply glut

KATHMANDU, Nov 2: The business of flowers crossed Rs 300 million during this year's Dashain and Tihar festivals, according to Floriculture Association Nepal (FAN).

Although the association had estimated that the imports would go down significantly due to increased production at home, excess imports from India led to oversupply in the market, resulting in losses to domestic producers.

Earlier, officials of FAN had said that Nepal had the capacity to produce flowers to prepare 2.5 million flower garlands and that Nepal needed to import only 200,000 flower garlands from India. But more than 500,000 flower garlands were imported for this year's Tihar festival.

The price of a garland ranges from Rs 55-Rs 70 depending on the quality of flower, according to the association. Kumar Kasaju Shrestha, president of FAN said: “This year we had planned to import only 200,000 flower garlands, but more than 500,000 garlands were imported. Local farmers were scared to supply their flowers to the market as Indian flowers were comparatively cheaper. Local farmers didn't want to take the risk of spending on transportation and competing with cheaper imported flowers.”

The association had earlier said that 88% flower needed for Tihar festival was to be sourced from domestic production.

 “We have open border with India, which has both its merits and demerits. Mostly, the people involved in flower trade are from India. They import from India and sell it here. We had announced that imports would be less this year but there was no mechanism to check it at the border. The Government of Nepal should have acted wisely. They could have stopped excess import at the border check points,” said Shrestha.

There are farmers who produce flowers round the year, and there are farmers who produce flowers targeting only the festivals. The latter were the most hit by excess imports from India.

 “It is our bad luck that we have to compete with India to sell our own locally produced flowers. We are importing flowers from India since decades. Even our government has become used to it. There isn't proper rule or regulation from the government in this regard, and local farmers have to face the consequences,” said Shrestha.

According to FAN, 1.52 million domestically-produced flower garlands were sold during the festivals.

 
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