BHAIRAHAWA, OCT 02 - Musuro pulses worth billions have started to pile up in the warehouses of various factories here after the government's decision to stop their export to third countries.
The government with a view to control rising prices in the domestic market had taken the decision to stop the export of musuro pulses from July 30, 2009. Traders said that the pulses had started to rot in storage.
Farmers growing musuro have been rendered helpless after traders stopped buying their products.
"After the government's decision to ban the export of pulses, all the factories and the market have been affected negatively," said Hrishikesh Agrawal, general secretary of the Rupandehi Pulses Mill Association. "Neither does the government buy our products nor allow their export."
He also accused the government of not buying the 5,000 tons of pulses as promised. The government had decided to buy the pulses from the traders and sell them on the domestic market at a subsidised rate.
According to the Pulses Mill Association, there are 30 industries in Nepal that export pulses to various third countries. The industries had exported musuro pulses worth Rs. 20 billion during the last fiscal year. Of the total production of pulses in Nepal, musuro accounts for around 90 percent.
Shree Chandra Goenka, president of the association said, "Only 10 percent of the total musuro production is consumed in Nepal." He added that the export trade in pulses, which was starting to gain a good market abroad, had been hard hit by the government decision.
According to Goenka, the stock with the traders and farmers can easily fulfil the domestic requirement for the next three years.
Consuming 75 percent of the total pulses export from Nepal, Bangladesh is the top Nepali pulses importers.
Traders said that demand from India, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirate, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Singapore was also increasing day by day.
They said that the four factories in Rupandehi alone used to export 650 quintals of pulses daily. Their daily purchases from the farmers amounted to 1,000 quintals.
Currently, musuro pulses cost Rs. 90 to Rs. 100 wholesale while the retail price is Rs. 105.
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