May 11: Nepal has imported gold jewelries worth Rs 140 million by the third quarter of the current fiscal year. The figure is based on the data released by the Department of Customs for the first nine months of the current fiscal year. On the basis of quantity, 32 kg of gold jewelries have been imported into the country during the review period.
In April alone, gold jewelries worth Rs 72.83 million have been imported. By mid-February, gold jewelries worth Rs 67.36 million were imported. By mid-April, it has increased to Rs 142.06 million.
The number of gold ornaments imported in the first eight months of the current fiscal year is more than the import in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Gold jewelries worth Rs 67.3 million were imported in the first eight months (July to February) of last fiscal year, while gold jewelries worth Rs 72.8 million were imported in April alone.
Import of gold jewelries has increased due to the shortage of goldsmiths amid coronavirus crisis.
Tejaratna Shakya, former president of the Federation of Gold and Silver Dealers Association of Nepal, said that the import of jewelries has increased due to the shortage of goldsmiths and the growing demand for gold.
“About 75 percent of goldsmiths working in the Nepali market are Indian nationals. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, they have not been able to return to Nepal in sufficient numbers. Currently, Nepali goldsmiths are also scattered across the country,” he said.
As the demand for wedding season in April has increased, the ornament factories have not been able to meet the demand accordingly, says Shakya.

“As a result, the import of gold ornaments in April has skyrocketed.”
By the third quarter of last year, jewelries worth Rs 56 million were imported. On a year-on-year basis, import of gold jewelries has also increased by 150 percent.
Stakeholders claim that the goldsmiths in Nepal can make jewelries of the design prevalent in the world market. However, traders say that the trend of importing gold jewelries has been increasing recently.
According to the department, gold jewelries have been imported to Nepal from Bahrain, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Oman, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, the UAE, the UK, and Iceland.
Lately, the demand for foreign-designed jewelries has been increasing in Nepal. Nepali customers have been attracted to wear jewelries shown in foreign movies. As a result, the import of gold jewelries has started increasing, said Shakya, former president of the federation.
President of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association Manika Ratna Shakya also said that the import of gold jewelries was unnatural. He said that the government should bring a policy to discourage it. "It is better to import raw gold than to import gold jewelries. For this, the government should bring the right policy,” he urged.