India’s cereal exports to Nepal forecast to increase sharply in 2014-15

The Dollar Business Bureau India’s exports of cereals to Nepal are expected to increase significantly in the marketing year 2014 – 15 (July – June) due to a below-normal harvest in Nepal this year. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), rice production in Nepal is expected to decline by around 9% y/y to about 4.6 million tonnes. This is mainly due to below average monsoon rains this year but floods and landslides in August 2014 in Nepal has also hurt production in the country, said FAO. Wheat and maize production in Nepal are, however, expected to remain at last year’s levels of around 1.9 million tonnes and 2.3 million tonnes respectively. Nepal is a major trading partner for India and India’s overall exports to Nepal stood at around $3.6 billion in FY2013-14. India exported around 76,348 tonnes of wheat (worth around $20.6 million) and about 198,217 tonnes of maize (worth about $46 million) to Nepal in FY 2013-14. Despite high prices of wheat, the levels of wheat and maize imports by Nepal are expected to remain at last year’s levels, according to FAO’s estimates. However, India’s rice exports to Nepal are already up this year. In FY2013-14, India’s rice exports to Nepal stood at around 404,127 tonnes (worth around $119 million). According to official sources, India has already exported rice worth around $86 million in April – September 2014. According to FAO, Nepal’s overall cereal imports in MY2014-15 are forecast to reach record levels of around 571,800 tonnes, which is up about 10% from the previous year. Most of the cereal imports will comprise rice, imports of which are anticipated at 500,000 tonnes in MY2014-15, up about 11% from the previous year.    

This article was published on December 26, 2014.