Trade between Nepal and China grows despite COVID-19

Trade between Nepal and China grew by over 28 percent in the 2020-21 fiscal year that ended in mid-July despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic, showed the latest figures released by the Nepali Department of Customs.

The two-way trade increased to 234.93 billion Nepali rupees (1.96 billion U.S. dollars) in the last fiscal year, as against 183.93 billion Nepali rupees (1.54 billion U.S. dollars) over the previous fiscal year.

Nepal's imports from China surged to 233.92 billion Nepali rupees (1.95 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020-21, up from 181.92 billion Nepali rupees (1.52 billion U.S. dollars) in the previous year, according to the Nepali department.

Meanwhile, the Nepali exports to China fell to 1 billion Nepali rupees (8.37 million U.S. dollars) from 1.19 billion Nepali rupees (9.97 million U.S. dollars) in the previous year.

The South Asian country has imposed a lockdown twice to contain the virus, though the restrictive measures have been eased in the past weeks.

"Nepal-China trade grew in line with an overall growth in trade in the last fiscal year," Shishir Ghimire, information officer at the Department of Customs, told Xinhua. "Even during the lockdown, we continued to open customs offices for international trade."

In the 2020-21 fiscal year, Nepal's international trade increased by around 29 percent to some 14 billion U.S. dollars.