90 pct mobile sets in Nepal come from China in FY 2015-16: customs

Ninety percent of Nepal's mobile set imports took place from China in the last fiscal year 2015-16 that concluded in mid-July, Nepal's Department of Customs (DoC) said.

Nepal imported 4,477,162 handsets from China against the total import of 5,005,499, according to DoC. This means around 90 percent of the handsets were imported from the northern neighbour of the Himalayan country.

Nepalese customs officials and mobile dealers said that as most of the mobile sets of global brands are manufactured in China and shipped globally, China has emerged as the largest supplier to Nepal.

In value, Nepal spent 169 million U.S. dollars to import the mobile sets, of which mobiles worth 129 million U.S. dollars were imported from China.

After China, Vietnam became the second largest supplier to Nepal with Nepal importing a total of 434,645 handsets from Vietnam whereas India came third with the supply of 90,030 mobile sets in the last fiscal year.

Sishir Dhungana, director general of DoC told Xinhua that as most of global mobile brands manufacture their products in China, Nepal received largest number of them from the northern neighbour.

"From Apple to Samsung and Indian brands like Karabonn and Micromax are also manufactured in China," said Dhungana.

Importers also make similar statements. Sirish Murarka, director of Pashupati Trade Link, the authorized distributor of Micromax mobile in Nepal, told Xinhua that their 80 percent of sets are imported from China despite being an Indian brand.

"We import mobile sets from both China and India, but the supply from China is bigger in quantity now," he said. Endit