Disruption in the movement of cargo vehicles with Dashain and Tihar around the corner has worried Nepali traders who import goods from China targeting the festival season every year.

Cargo containers from China en route to the Tatopani Customs Point on the Nepal-China border in Sindhupalchok district remained stranded for a few days last week at Nyalam, a bordering town on the Chinese side, due to construction work on China's side of the border.

Kamal Kumar Bhattarai, the Tatopani Customs Chief, told NBA over the phone that the Chinese authorities had halted movement of vehicles for three days around a week ago to carry out the construction work, adding, “The containers have already been cleared and there is no issue at the moment on both sides of the border.”

But, the movement of cargo vehicles has been disrupted, once again. This time in Nepal due to the poor condition of the road connecting Kathmandu and the Tatpani Customs.

Issuing a notice, the Road Division Office, Bhaktapur has barred tipper trucks and cargo vehicles from moving along the Dhulikhel-Khawa road section for two days–Thursday and Friday–to carry out the maintenance work. 

Engineer Suman Basnet at the Road Division Office, Bhaktapur said that the road section has become too slippery adding to the risks for the movement of heavy vehicles following a heavy rain. “Big puddles of water have formed at several places along the road section,” said Basnet. 
There is, however, no restriction on the movement of passenger vehicles.

Traders say that every year they face hurdles during the festival season to import goods from the northern neighbour.

A large amount of readymade clothes, electrical equipment and fruits are imported from the northern neighbour during this time of the year.

Nepal mainly exports handicrafts, medicinal herbs and carpets among others to China.

Ashok Shrestha, President of the Nepal Trans Himalayan Border Commerce Association, said that around one-third of the yearly trade happens during Dashain and Tihar.

“We wait for the whole year planning for the festival session,” Shrestha said. “Disruptions like these increase the transportation charge, ultimately affecting the consumers.”

“The issue may become more severe when the volume of import increases in the coming days,” Shrestha added.

Trades argue lack of communication and poor infrastructure are the immediate concerns in Nepal-India trade that need to be addressed.

“It is basically caused by poor communication between the Nepali and Chinese authorities,” Shrestha argues. “The Nepali authorities need to meet with their Chinese counterparts regularly to inform them about our festival season and its importance for trade.” 

More serious obstacle in trade with China, according to Shrestha, is the poor infrastructure, especially the roads, on the Nepali side of the border.

There have been reports of disruption in vehicular movement along the Kerung route too due to landslides, Shrestha added.

Nepal conducts most of its trade with China through the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung and Tatopani-Khasa routes.

However, the Tatopani transit had mostly remained closed until last year after suffering a double blow–the 2015 earthquake and international border closure following the spread of Covid-19.

Sindhupalchok was among the most affected districts in the 2015 Gorkha earthquake.

Though Rasuwagadhi-Kerung came to be used as an alternative to Tatopani-Khasa route after the earthquake, it also remained mostly closed for three years from early 2020. 

There are around a dozen other traditional trade points between the two countries, especially to benefit Nepalis living near the northern border for earning their livelihoods and purchasing daily necessities.

However, they were only reopened earlier this year in May, after China had kept them closed for four years citing Covid pandemic.

Though Nepal’s international trade which had shrunk in the last two fiscal years, exports to China increased by 46.6% and imports by 34.2% in the last fiscal year, according to the Department of Customs.

At the same time, the trade deficit with China, Nepal’s second biggest trade partner after India, is also on the rise. It was around 15% in FY 2022/23 and has reached around 20.5% in FY 2023/24.

Nepal incurred the second biggest trade deficit totalling Rs 296.1 billion or around 20.5% of the total in the last fiscal year. The import from and export to the northern neighbour in the period stood at around Rs. 298.7 billion and around Rs. 2.5 billion, respectively.

Similarly, in the first month of the current fiscal year which began in July 16, the trade deficit with the northern neighbour remains at Rs 24.38 billion, or nearly 21% of the total.