Nepal resumes importing onions from India

22 Jun 2023 Evaluate

Traders in Nepal have resumed importing onions from India, more than two weeks after they stopped buying from the neighbouring country following the Nepal government's move to impose a hefty 13 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT) on vegetables last month. Vegetable vendors started bringing onions to the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market, Kathmandu's main vegetable trading centre, on Monday, with the largest consignments of onions being poured in on June 20 and 21.

Arjun Prasad Aryal, Deputy Executive Director of the market's Development Committee said ‘Onions have started arriving in the Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market’. He said ‘In total, 145 metric tonnes of onions arrived in Kathmandu’s major vegetable wholesale market on June 20 and 21’, and added that there is a smooth supply of the vegetable in the market as traders have started bringing onions by paying VAT.

According to the financial bill introduced in the Himalayan Country’s Parliament on May 29, imported onions, potatoes and other vegetables and fruits will now be subjected to a 13 per cent VAT. Onion, sold in the wholesale market for Rs 48 per kg, costs Rs 70 in retail markets. Nepal imports almost all its onions from neighbouring India. Last year, it imported 173,829 tonnes of onions from India. Nepal grows potatoes that cater to around 60 per cent of local demand, while the rest of the vegetables are also imported from India.

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