Attempts to increase prices of essential food products in Nepal on the pretext of festive demand
24-Sep-2024 06:14 PM
Kathmandu. With the start of the festive season in India's northern neighbouring country Nepal, traders, stockists and millers have started increasing the prices of various essential food products, which include rice, edible oil, pulses and sugar etc.
Retail traders say that the prices of these products may remain high till the festivals of 'Dashain' and 'Tihar'. It is known that Dashain and Tihar are the two most important festivals of Nepal.
It is worth mentioning that the prices of essential food products in Nepal are very much influenced by the Indian market.
Although the prices of food products have not increased or have increased very little in India in recent times,
some opportunistic Nepali traders have started increasing its prices there arbitrarily. Actually, the market monitoring system in Nepal is very weak and traders take advantage of this and try to increase prices.
In India, the order to increase the import duty on edible oils by 20 percent came into effect from September 14, which includes edible oils of both crude and refined categories.
Importers from Nepal started taking advantage of this opportunity and the prices of edible oils started increasing heavily there, even though there was no increase in import duty there. According to the Nepal Retailers Association, Nepalese wholesalers and retailers have already increased the prices.
About a week ago, the prices of edible oils in Nepal had increased by Rs 20 per liter, while there is a possibility of further increase in it as the festive demand has started increasing.
According to the association, there is more instability in prices due to rumors spreading in the market and weak monitoring system.
Anyway, the demand for edible oils is at its peak during the festive season. The price of sunflower oil has increased from Rs 190 to Rs 210 (Nepali currency) per liter and the price of mustard oil has increased from Rs 350 to Rs 370 per liter. There is a need to tighten the noose on big business establishments.