While Nepal has bilateral trade with 154 countries, it enjoys a trade surplus with only 33 countries. According to the Department of Customs (DoC) statistics, Nepal has a trade surplus with countries including Denmark, United States, Algeria, Cambodia, Norway, Romania, Chad, Uruguay, Afghanistan, and Latvia.

However, this does not hold much significance in terms of the monetary value as the trade surplus is pretty low as the country does not have large bilateral trade with these countries except the United States.

Nepal has the highest trade surplus of Rs 395.62 million with Denmark. The country exported goods worth Rs 594.45 million while imported goods worth Rs 204.33 million from Denmark in the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

The United States is another country with whom Nepal enjoys a trade surplus in this fiscal. Nepal has a surplus of Rs 87.62 million in bilateral trade with the world’s largest economy in this fiscal year. The country exported goods worth Rs 10.73 billion while imported goods worth Rs 10.64 million during this period.

While the country’s total trade deficit has declined in the current fiscal, Nepal has a huge trade deficit with the countries with which it has large bilateral trade with the United States being an exception.

The impact of import restrictions and cash margins on imports, the measures that were introduced a year ago to check the depleting foreign currency reserves, is still visible in the country’s foreign trade. Nepal’s foreign trade has decreased by 20.84 points in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. With both imports and exports declining, the overall trade deficit has also decreased by 18.71 percent.

As per the DoC data, Nepal’s exports declined by 29.03 percent to Rs 93.43 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, particularly due to the dramatic decline in the exports of palm oil, soyabean oil, and sunflower oil to India.

The exports of edible oils have slumped massively in the first seven months of FY 2022/23. The exports of palm oil slumped to Rs 13.92 billion from Rs 34.15 billion. Likewise, exports of soyabean oil also dipped to Rs 8.27 billion in the first seven months of this fiscal from Rs 36.85 billion in the same period last fiscal year.

Similarly, the country’s imports have also decreased by 19.90 percent to Rs 919.16 billion. The eight-month-long import restrictions as well as the provision of cash margin have put a brake on the imports in this fiscal year.

India is Nepal’s largest trade partner with the highest share of both exports and imports. According to the statistics, Nepal exported goods worth Rs 66.23 billion and imported goods valued at Rs 570.97 billion in this fiscal. The trade deficit with the southern neighbor currently stands at Rs 504.74 billion

The second largest trading partner is China. Exports to the northern neighbor stood at Rs 422.65 million billion while imports stood at Rs 125.05 billion.

Source : theannapurnaexpress.com/news/ For More Details