November 4: At a time when almost all businesses and industries have come to a standstill, the import of coal has surprisingly gone up. Coal is used as a raw material for preparing clinker, which is a vital component of cement.

Data maintained by the Birgunj Customs Office shows that the import of coal has increased by 42 percent in the first three months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last FY.

According to the customs office, 141,528 metric tons of coal worth Rs 1.88 billion was imported into the country during the review period.

Altogether 99,381 metric tons of coal worth Rs 1.42 billion was imported through Birgunj customs during the corresponding period of last fiscal year, according to Information Officer at the customs office Bimal Sah. Out of the country’s total import of coal, 50 percent of coal enters the country through Birgunj.

Stakeholders say that some industries have imported huge quantity of coal right now because the price of coal has dropped in the Indian market. One of the importers told New Business Age that although there isn’t much demand for cement in the market, they decided to import coal in large quantity to take advantage of the decline in its price.

Madhav Rajpal, an importer of coal, claimed that the import of the product was increasing even during the lockdown period because the cement industry of Nepal has been expanding in recent years with more investment in the sector. He said that 70 percent of the imported coal will be used to make clinker while the remaining 30 percent is utilized by brick kilns.