Five orange exporters based in Samdrup Jongkhar are struggling to get orange to export to Bangladesh as most of the local traders and villagers sell the citrus directly to Indian traders across the border. According to the exporters, last year each of them exported about 20 truckloads of orange to Bangladesh by this time of the season. This season, five of them together, exported only 13 truckloads so far.
The orange export season is almost coming to an end. And orange depots in Samdrup Jongkhar are empty. The workers stay idle most of the time.
However, a few hundred metres from the bordering town, Indian traders in Garage, a nearby Indian town are busy buying Bhutanese orange. Most of the Bhutanese local traders and villagers sell their orange in the Indian town where the fruit fetches better price.
“In Bhutan, for about 800 pieces of rejected oranges, we get only Nu 100 whereas here in India, we get Nu 70 for 80 pieces. So, I think it is better here. And if I calculate in terms of bolero there is difference of up to Nu 7000. If we fetch Nu 17,000 in Bhutan, we get Nu 27,000 here,” said Karma Wangdi, a local trader who has come to sell orange in the Indian town.
In India, local traders and villagers can fetch up to Nu 270 for 80 pieces of oranges.
Bhutanese exporters pay Nu 950 for a crate of bigger sized orange and for the smaller ones, they pay Nu 650 for a crate.
“They don’t bring orange here thinking that the price is better in India. They don’t inquire here, be it villagers or local traders, they directly go to India. As a result, we are also unable to capture the market in Bangladesh,” said Sayna, one of the orange exporters in Samdrup Jongkhar.
“We are paying the same price as the Indians. But some people prefer to take it across the border anyway. Sometimes we even pay more than the Indian buyers,” added Sherab Zangpo, another exporter.
“All the bigger sized oranges are taken down. They sell it in pieces. So, for 80 pieces they get maximum of Nu 310. And here, for a crate of bigger sized orange, we pay Nu 950 and in a crate there will be around 160 pieces. For smaller ones, the rate is low in India as well,” said Langa Dorji, another orange exporter.
In addition, exporters also say it is unfair to allow local traders and villagers to sell orange across the border without having to do Bank Export Registration.
An exporter must process bank export registration prior to processing the export declaration at the custom office so that importers deposit dollars or Indian currency in the exporter’s bank accounts.
“Whatever we export, be it potato, orange or ginger, first the buyers deposit Indian currency. But here, local traders and villagers take it down and do not bring in Indian currency. When we export to Bangladesh, our importers deposit dollars in our bank accounts,” said orange exporter Sayna.
“If they declare the rate as it is then we don’t have a problem. When they take it from here, it is declared below Nu 30,000 but after they get up to Nu 70000 in India, so that is not fair,” added Langa Dorji.
However, as per a notification issued by the Royal Monetary Authority, individuals exporting goods worth Nu 30,000 or less do not have to process Bank Export registration from the bank.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Phub Gyem
