Politicians and leaders are too busy fighting amongst themselves for Power to notice these I guess. Big loss for Nepal and gain for others(they will fulfill this quota if Nepal doesn't). 40-60% decline ? man that sure is a lot.

Hey AntiSPAM,
You're very entertaining. You've been yapping the same ol' saga of antispam sentiments for a year or so. Agreed --things are not very rosy in our homeland, but do some researching before attributing each and every debacle that we are going through to the government.

Political instability is surely a factor for the decline in the Garment export. But it is just ONE of many reasons. The termination of quota system due to a provision made by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Jan '05 is one of the major reasons for the decline.

The countervailing duty imposed on the maximum retail price on goods exported from Nepal by the Indian government and the dilly-dallying in the payment of duty drawback to exporters by the Nepalese government are set to enfeeble a sector already plagued by limited markets and products.

Here's an old article but relevant nonetheless. it may give you and others some idea on what's happening behind the export market of Nepal.

Export Slowdown

What Went Wrong?

In recent months, the political situation in the country has been growing increasingly adverse to trade. Industrial insecurity coupled with growing political uncertainty has hit virtually all sectors of economy.

That apart, some very specific problems such as the drastic fall in the sale of pashmina and carpets, the Indian government's imposition of Countervailing Duty (CVD) on the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of Nepalese goods and the dilly-dallying by the Nepalese government in the payment of duty drawback to the exporting industries are set to halt, if not reverse, the growth curve.

Just as suddenly as it rose, pashmina exports are tumbling because of various factors, including the unethical practice by some Nepalese manufacturers who exported sub-standard products and the gradual erosion in demand in the European markets. In a bid to earn quick money, a handful of exporters tried to kill the goose that laid golden eggs.

"As there was no regulation of the quality of pashmina, not only Nepalese entrepreneurs but also some spurious businessmen from the neighboring country exploited the name of Nepal," says Khanal.

While the government failed to check such adverse trends, the bigger blame lies squarely with the private sector, which went to the extent of exporting anything in the name of pashmina.

hahahahahaha....

don't get afraid! you'll be alrite, turst me! :D :P

Hey Loote,
What is,"The countervailing duty imposed on the maximum retail price on goods exported from Nepal by the Indian government and the dilly-dallying in the payment of duty drawback to exporters by the Nepalese government are set to enfeeble a sector already plagued by limited markets and products. ?" I had never heard of that before ?

As far as Pashmina is concerned... I know there is no fixed quality controll. Most of it is hand made there fore won't have uniformity liike the machines would. Waaay Back all the Pashmina that got rejected used to be flloded in the Nepali local market.
PAshmina is just one sector. Look at Tourism(used to be our cash cow), foreign or Indian. Indian tourist used to be one of the biggest source of income for those Hong Kong Kanchas. Now its virtually non-existant, thanks to the bloody Maos(they are scaredto come to Nepal because of our hatred towards them). its like shooting yourself on the foot.

forget it..loote will never admit his loved one's fault:P

Hey BC buddy ole pal, :D

i too am relatively new to the terminoligy--CVD (Countervailing Duty). What I got to know from International Trade Theory and Policy webesite is this. This is verbatim and perhaps will help you understand it better:

The WTO allows countries to place a countervailing duty (CVD) on imports when a foreign government subsidizes exports of the product which in turn causes injury to the import competing firms. The countervailing duty is a tariff designed to "counter" the effects of the foreign export subsidy. We will assume that there are two large countries trading a particular product in a partial equilibrium model. The exporting country initially sets a specific export subsidy. That action is countered with a CVD implemented by the importing country.

More here

so countervailing duties are a means to restrict international trade in cases where imports are subsidized by a foreign country and hurt domestic producers.according to WTO rules, a country can launch its own investigation and decide to charge extra duties, provided such additional duties are in accordance with the WTO's Dispute Settlement System.

i am not denying that tourism and other business activities have come under massive jeopardy due to the instability back home. maoists, parties, king and we people--everyone is one way or the other liable for this chaos. but there are various things that one needs to look at before pin-pointing at a particular group or a person haina?

oops!!! here's the link for more info on CVD:

- http://internationalecon.com/Trade/Tch110/T110-3.php

ImI,
hahahahahahahhaa...you know me so well aba ke bhanne....am not for anyone though. am just trying to see things from all perspectives :-)

loote,
ya i know you too well.I can't win argument with you but i don't let you win either:P the reason being ..dogs are color blind:P they see only red and blue not green :P got it my fren..;) hahaha

well who is true winner or loser in this virtual world doesn't even matter.but i know your high regards for maokeys:P have gone down.It will believe me it will...when the things you love like miss sxy nepal is no more.:)you will run after them to bite their ass:P hehehe

Loote-Mate,
kInda like tariffs to protect Domestic industrial producers ? maybe ? And hope thats only for products exporting to India. If not then they have no business adding these CVD's on products that are going to other foreign countries than India.
But its its otherwise we are getting stiffed every time we use their port because we are land locked. And IF they put that CVD on every product leaving Nepal then its not fair for us. I am still a lil confused about this.

BC,
i am also a bit curious to know more on CVD. i did a bit of researching to see how exactly it is levied on the exported products.

A "countervailing duty" is a special duty levied, in addition to the regular duty and other charges, by an importing country on its imports which have been found to be subsidized in the country of origin or exportation. It is equal to the ascertained amount of subsidy, calculated in terms of subsidy per unit of the subsidized exported product. It is imposed following an affirmative final determination.

Are all subsidies countervailable?

Not all subsidies are countervailable/actionable. Subsidy, in order to be countervailable, must be “specific;” i.e., explicitly limited to:

* An enterprise or group of enterprises;

* An industry sector or group of industries; and

* A designated geographic region within the jurisdiction of the granting authority

___________________________________________________________________

The link that I provided says:

The recent Indian budget has proposed to impose countervailing duty on the maximum retail price of goods exported from Nepal. This provision is against the spirit of the treaty, which provides for a level playing field. This has resulted in the duty amount becoming higher and the cost factor getting non-competitive for us. In fact, it penalizes the industries for existing in Nepal.

so i believe it's not ONLY with products exported via india or to india but it can be incurred on products exported directly to other countries as well. of course, in our case, most of the products -- not only garments but also ayurvedic/herbal products--are exported via india and although CVD levied on ayurvedic products are not so much, that on carpets and pashmina are equal to the amount of subsidy or beyond and the termination of quota system implied lately on account of the WTO provision is yet another huge blow for the export sector.

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