KATHMANDU, Sept 9: Salt Trading Corporation (STC) has started the process of importing 20,000 tons of sugar targeting to ease the supply of the sweetener during the upcoming festivals.
Kumar Raj Bhandari, spokesperson for STC, said they would be importing the aforementioned quantity of sugar by mid-October. According to him, the corporation is purchasing sugar from Renuka Sugar Mills, India, through a global tender process.
STC gets go-ahead to import 30,000 tons of sugar
Recently, the traders have raised the price of sugar by almost 27 percent showing the cause of the short supply in the domestic market. Just in the past few weeks, the price of sugar that used to be available for Rs 75 per kg has now jumped to Rs 95 a kg.
According to the Sugar Producers’ Association, the domestic sugar mills produced around 180,000 tons of sugar in the last season and they are almost running out of their stock.
Nepal’s sugar requirement amounts to 250,000 tons annually. The STC imports 25,000-30,000 tons of sugar every year. The state-owned company imports sugar to maintain a buffer stock in order to keep supply and demand in balance and prevent price fluctuations particularly during festivals.
