Ministry of Commerce And Supplies - Enhanced Integrated ...

N T I S2010Dynamism of Exports: Nepal’s lentil export performance is somewhat irregular and suffers instability. Exportsare fluctuating significantly from one year to the next in both volume and value. Yearly variations of 40 percent or 50 per cent decrease or increase are common, and export revenues can double or triple suddenly, orvice versa. However, domestic production has been relatively stable in recent years. 15Export Prospect: Export prospect is very positive. Exports will remain volatile due to harvest fluctuations. Amajor threat is the government policy on exports and the occasional export bans. These could have a longtermeffect on investment in the sector and other measures should be considered to reduce the impact ofprice surges on the poor, without jeopardizing export opportunities.Index 2: World Market ConditionsTable 2.13Total World Export Value of Lentils, 2005-2009 (US$1,000)2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2009611,810 653,940 897,361 1,255,867 n/a n/aWorld imports have doubled over recent years, mainly due to a significant increase in imports from Turkey,Sri Lanka, and the UAE.Market Access Conditions (Tariffs and NTBs): There is free access to the Indian market. The exporters or theIndian importers have to submit a certificate of origin and a phytosanitary certificate, which could be arrangedat nominal cost. But both Nepalese and Indian governments can restrict the export or import unilaterally,depending on the domestic general food situation and lentil scarcity or abundance situations. Duties are 0-5per cent in most of the potential markets, with main exceptions being Turkey (19.4 per cent) and Syria (50 percent).Major Competitors in World Market: India is both an important export destination and a competitor forNepal. Canada and Turkey are other main competitors.World Market Prospect: World imports and prices have grown significantly in recent years, but are veryvolatile as they depend on harvests in some of the key producing markets such as India and Australia.Index 3: Domestic Supply ConditionsProducers: More than 670,000 farm families are involved in lentil production in 10 districts of central andwestern regions alone, supplying more than 80 per cent of the total national production. Thus, small producerswith low input cropping patterns provide the bulk of the supply. Commercial farm production plays a marginalrole.There are a large number of small ‘dal’ (pulses) mills scattered all over the country. They do custom milling aswell as processing and sell lentils in the domestic market. The major exporters are 15 lentil processing mills.All of them are sizeable companies (each with 2-4 MT/hour processing capacity), and generally have multipleeconomic activities besides lentil milling and export.15Annual production was between 148,000 and 166,000 MT between 2001 and 2008. Yield and harvested area have remained stable as well.Source: Statistical information on Agriculture, GoN, MoAC.NEPAL TRADE INTEGRATION STRATEGY 2010BACKGROUND REPORT41