Workers idle and crates empty, orange depots in Samdrup Jongkhar wear a deserted look. Although mandarin export is allowed even amidst the lockdown, farmers and dealers are waiting for the price to improve.
It has been five days since the depots received the last consignment of mandarin. It is uncertain when the next consignment will arrive.
Today the price for a crate of mandarin has dropped to the low of Nu 600. Last year, one crate fetched Nu 900 to 1000. The price reduction this time is due to the low price for the fruit in Bangladesh. According to exporters, they are getting only Nu 850 t0 1050 per crate.
‘‘We could not export good quality mandarins this year which affected the price. Moreover, expenditure for packaging and loading is high this time as workers are all Bhutanese,’’ said Syena, owner of the Rinyang Export.
Another exporter Tashi Norbu said, ‘‘about 13 Indian labourers could pack about 1000 crates in a day but it takes 60 Bhutanese to pack 150 to 200 crates in a day.’’
This he said is a high expenditure.
For the orange growers in the east, the wait continues till the price improves.
Export of mandarins from Samdrup Jongkhar started on 9th of this month. So far, only 13 truckloads of mandarins have been exported to Bangladesh.
Kinley Wangchuk
