Ministry of Commerce And Supplies - Enhanced Integrated ...

N T I S2010Many more organizations are believed to have applied and received management system certification in oneform or other. Some industries have also received ISO 22000 Food Safety Management System certificates,particularly for orthodox tea.As of 2006, there were approximately 17 different certification bodies (CBs) issuing system certificates. 16This number might have increased by now as there is no internationally recognized Nepalese CBs operating.Prominent CBs were ICL, ICS, URS, DNV, TUV, BSI, SGS LRQA, RINA, and KVQA. Most of these CBs are operatingfrom India and, apparently, only three of these CBs have contact offices in Nepal.Since there is no central system to register the system certification and certifiers, it is difficult to have exactnumber of the organizations receiving the certificates of different systems, new or renewals. Some expertsindicate that many of the certificate recipients have not renewed and have abandoned the managementsystem they had adopted earlier.7.12 Performances of the Packaging SectorThe Nepalese packaging sector is growing slowly along with the consumer market, super markets anddepartment stores, and product exports. But it is still as traditional today as it was a decade ago. 17 Flexibleand rigid plastic, paper, cardboard, corrugated board, textile, jute, metal containers, and glass containers arethe main types of packaging materials and containers. Not much innovation can be seen in the sector. Theemphasis remains on simple, cheap, and low-quality materials.Nevertheless, production volume has definitely increased. In addition, upgrading of some companies with newmachineries and new technologies has increased the quality of packaging materials and allowed production ofa few new forms of packaging. Since the demand for quality packaging materials both for domestic use andfor export can rarely be met by the local industry, most quality packaging material have to be imported. Thisis true particularly for food industries, such as instant noodles, tea, coffee, honey, biscuits, and confectionery.These industries have little but to import certain food-grade packaging material like BOPP, PP, PETs, andothers. Packaging materials like metal cans, multilayer paper sacks, tea chests, metal barrels, aluminiumcanisters, aseptic packaging drums, tetra pack/comb bloc cartons, laminated plastic film and paper rolls,pressure sensitive taps, reinforcement straps, pilfer-proof or leak-proof bottle caps also are mostly importedfrom India and ASEAN countries.The growth of packaging enterprises is limited by low demand in the domestic market, hence low economiesof scale in production. The lack of awareness among both the public and decision-makers as to the importanceand benefits of packaging is partly responsible for the slow growth of the industry.The number of packaging firms has grown, nevertheless, to produce simple cardboard/corrugated cardboardboxes and polyethylene bags. The cutthroat competition that has resulted has led to a tendency to compromiseon quality in order to supply at low prices. The absence of standards is also affecting the growth of a domesticpackaging industry.Some of the packaging materials typically used for different export products are listed in Table 7.7 and theexisting Nepal standards are listed in Table 7.8. None of the packaging firms so far have applied for the NepalStandards Certification Mark.16Sapkota, K.P., 2006: ‘Certification Status in Nepal “a paper in Fourth Regional Quality Convention 2006” Improving Competitiveness throughQuality in the Globalised Regime” Convention Resource Materials Published by Nepal AOTS Alumni Society, Kathmandu Nepal, July 2006p166-182.17ITC: 1999: The Packaging Industry in Nepal, Export Packaging Note No. 45, March 1999180NEPAL TRADE INTEGRATION STRATEGY 2010BACKGROUND REPORT