Data from the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) has shown that the value of imports of clinker has increased by nearly six times year-on-year to US$84m in the first six months of the Nepalese fiscal year to mid-January 2017 from US$14m in the same period in the previous year. Dhurba Thapa, president of the local Cement Manufacturers Association, told the Kathmandu Post that the surge in clinker imports was due to a market correction following a ban on exports imposed by India in the previous year. He added that imports of clinker from India account for around 35 – 40% of Nepal’s total consumption.
