The import of sunflower and soybean oil from Biratnagar customs point has increased. The extraction of these two oils also seems unnatural. In the 8 months of the current financial year, sunflower oil worth 1 billion 419.7 million was imported.

During this period, processed sunflower oil worth 285.2 million was exported to India. Soybean oil was imported worth 5.18 billion, while the export of the same commodity was 5.48 billion. 

In the list of 10 items that are exported and imported from Biratnagar port, sunflower is the first in import and soybean oil is the first in export.  Industrialists have been exporting oil after importing it from third countries and refining it in some quantity. Industrialists have said that crude oil imported from America, Argentina, Ukraine, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries will be exported to India after processing. 

According to the Nepal-India trade agreement, goods produced in Nepal with 30 percent value added get duty-free access to the Indian market.  India has increased the customs rate of oil imported from other countries by another 20 percent last August. After the increase in customs duty, the tax levied on crude oil imported by India has reached 27 and a half percent. In Nepal, industrialists get advance payment while exporting to India. That is why the industrialists are said to be emphasizing on exports. 

There are more than two dozen soybean and sunflower oil processing factories in Biratnagar. Those factories have been processing the imported oil and re-exporting it to India through the Biratnagar port. Customs chief Umesh Shrestha said that the import and export of soybean and sunflower oil has increased rapidly. According to him, synthetic yarn, jute cloth, burlap bags, plywood, iron sheets, slit strips and other items are being exported. 

Polythene grain, LP gas, steel wire rod, pure iron, copper wire, coal and other items have been imported. In the 8 months of the current financial year, goods worth 1 trillion 31 billion have been imported and goods worth 40 billion 78 million have been exported. 

In February alone, goods worth 19.56 billion were imported, while goods worth 9.44 billion were exported. According to customs sources, in the month of February, 2.77 billion 2.7 million rupees have been collected in the collection target of 3.5 billion 7.6 million rupees.