The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Food Corporation of Bhutan (FCB), Naiten Wangchuk, said that since the Government of India (GOI) has relaxed the import restriction on ginger, exports have been easy.
So far, 72 percent of the ginger has been sold, and the remaining 28 percent, after being held for so long, have dried up and lost weight.
He said that FCB is selling it, but the market prices are quite low due to the poor quality and the fact that the ginger marketing season is over, and the mother rhizome ginger will soon be available.
“We were unable to export it on time, and if we had been able to send it on time, we would not have suffered such a significant loss. We could not fetch a good price. The market rate is very low,” Naiten Wangchuk said.
The export, however, is continuing. FCB has sold all of the ginger from Samdrupjongkhar and Phuentsholing, some has been exported and some sold to individual merchants. FCB has a few in Gelephu at the moment.
He stated that because the market has fallen, FCB is now getting about Nu 7 to Nu 10 per kilo of ginger.
“We have a pricing based on the quality, and when we purchase back from the farmers, the best price we paid was Nu 30, and the lowest was Nu 20. The best price for the best quality we fetched at the time was Nu 18 in Siliguri; it was peak season, and the market rate was fair. And it didn’t even cross Nu 18 thereafter, so it’s now gone down further, sometimes as low as Nu 5,” he said.
He added that buyback is not a good option, and the country should avoid it because first and foremost, there is a lack resources, and the price fluctuation in the market is a characteristic of the market, as the price fluctuates from time to time and traders must abide by it, which is bothersome.
As of 17 June 2022, FCB has purchased 3,677.116 Metric Tonnes (MT) of ginger from the farmers worth Nu 87.895Million (mn) in the country. FCBL sold 2,641.383 MT of ginger worth Nu 22.913 mn.
Currently FCB has a remaining stock of 1035.733 MT of ginger. As per FCB, the balance stock is inclusive of weight loss, damages and shrinkages.
GOI lifted the import restriction on ginger from Bhutan on 19 May 2022. India’s Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, notified that the import of wholly produced ginger from Bhutan is free subject to Article–I of the Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan.
