18
Looking at broader commodity categories, textile-related products (HS 54, 55, 57, 62, and 63)
are the most important export items, followed by agriculture products (HS 07, 09, and 20); and
steel and iron materials (HS 72 and 73). In imports, the major commodities that dominate the list
are petroleum; industrial raw materials, including semi-processed iron; industrial machinery,
heavy equipment and parts; vehicles and parts; and precious and semi-precious metals.
Interestingly, cereals (processed agriculture) products now appear within the top 10 of imported
commodities (Annex 4). Nepal used to export such commodities in huge volumes until two
decades ago. This indicates that Nepal has been losing its strengths in the commodities where it
had comparative advantages with tremendous potentials.
In terms of both exports and imports, India is the top destination as well as the top source.
Among the exports to India, coffee and tea, spices including ginger and cardamom, vegetables,
textile materials, staple fibres, other textile articles, and iron and steel are the major items.
Bangladesh was a major importer for the edible vegetables. For carpets and apparels, United
States, Germany, and other EU countries are major destinations. Turkey imports some staple
fibres. China is now emerging as an important trading partner with a significant rise in exports
and imports. Diversification of commodities is critical for LDCs to improve trade
competitiveness and enhancing the productive capacity of domestic industries. It is, however,
clear that Nepal has been unable to expand exports markets to get benefits from the regional
trading arrangements such as SAFTA and BIMSTEC and has not benefited from preferential
facilities under multilateral trading arrangements.
As its major trading partners and export commodities are limited, Nepal is vulnerable to external
trade aggravation and global economic downturns, oil price fluctuations and geopolitical
tensions. Nepal faces more challenges to move into the higher value-added products to reduce an
excessive dependency on imports. Within the set of landlocked LDCs, Nepal has lower export
sophistication than what was expected after the adoption of IPOA. This implies that developing
new products for exports is important for Nepal (Razzaque, 2019).
5. Private Sector Development
Private sector development has been a priority for Nepal since the 1990s. The government has
undertaken policy and regulatory reforms to strengthen private sector capacity. A more open and
flexible approach, including encouragement of foreign direct investment in the manufacturing