Nepal's Top Imports and Exports: A Commodity-by-Commodity Guide

Nepal is one of the most import-dependent economies in South Asia. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank, merchandise imports in fiscal year (FY) 2023/24 (BS 2080/81) totalled about Rs 1,592.99 billion while exports reached only Rs 152.38 billion, producing a trade deficit of Rs 1,440.60 billion. In simple terms, for every one rupee of goods Nepal sold abroad it bought roughly ten rupees' worth, a gap financed largely by remittances from Nepali workers overseas.

The Department of Customs (DoC, customs.gov.np) is the primary source of merchandise trade data, publishing the annual 'Nepal Foreign Trade Statistics' organised by Harmonized System (HS) chapter. The Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC, tepc.gov.np) tracks export performance, and Nepal Rastra Bank consolidates the balance-of-payments picture. Together these three bodies define the official record used throughout this guide.

India is overwhelmingly Nepal's largest trading partner, typically accounting for roughly two-thirds of total trade, followed by China and then third countries. Because most fuel, vehicles and grain arrive from or through India, the bilateral relationship shapes almost every commodity story below. Where possible, figures are given for FY 2023/24; where a durable multi-year pattern matters more than one year's number, the trend is described instead.

Petroleum products (HS Chapter 27) are consistently Nepal's single largest import. In FY 2023/24 the country imported petroleum worth roughly Rs 322 billion, led by diesel (about Rs 143.97 billion), petrol (about Rs 68.10 billion) and liquefied petroleum gas or LPG cooking gas (about Rs 55.61 billion). All of it is supplied by Indian Oil Corporation to the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) under a monopoly arrangement, which is why fuel is both a fiscal and a strategic concern.

Edible oil is the second great import story and the mirror image of Nepal's export boom. Traders import crude soybean and palm oil (HS Chapter 15), refine it, and re-export the finished oil to India to exploit tariff differences under the South Asian trade regime. Gold (HS Chapter 71) is imported under a licensed quota system, with roughly Rs 23.65 billion recorded in FY 2023/24; vehicles (HS Chapter 87) run to tens of billions of rupees annually and have shifted sharply toward electric cars.

Iron and steel (HS Chapter 72) worth about Rs 39.03 billion feed Nepal's construction sector, while cereals, chiefly rice and paddy (HS Chapter 10), cost the country around Rs 21.34 billion in FY 2023/24, down from about Rs 35 billion the year before. Electricity is a seasonal import: the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) buys power from India during the dry winter months when run-of-river hydropower plants generate less, even though Nepal now exports surplus power in the monsoon.

Nepal's export basket splits into two groups: durable, value-added traditional goods, and volatile re-exported edible oils. On the traditional side, hand-knotted woollen carpets (HS Chapter 57) have long been the flagship, worth around Rs 11.5 billion in FY 2022/23. Large cardamom or alaichi (HS Chapter 09), of which Nepal is one of the world's leading producers, earned roughly Rs 8.28 billion, and jute goods (HS Chapter 53) remain a steady traditional export processed in the eastern Tarai.

Refined soybean oil and palm oil (HS Chapter 15) have transformed the headline numbers. Soybean oil exports jumped from single-digit billions to about Rs 93.52 billion by FY 2024/25, dominating the export chart. Most of this is not grown in Nepal at all; it is crude oil imported, refined and re-exported to India, which is why economists caution that it inflates export totals without adding much domestic value.

High-value niche products round out the picture. Pashmina (HS Chapter 62) exports were around Rs 2.49 billion, handmade paper (HS Chapter 48) roughly Rs 999.5 million, tea (HS Chapter 09) about Rs 1.29 billion, and Nepali specialty coffee (HS Chapter 09) a small but premium export of roughly Rs 47 million. Readymade garments, polyester yarn and thread, and zinc sheets are also significant manufactured exports.

One of the most searched questions about Nepal's economy is why an agricultural nation, where paddy is culturally central and roughly two-thirds of people depend on farming, still spends more than Rs 20 billion a year importing rice and paddy. The answer is a productivity gap rather than a lack of land. Nepali paddy yields have stagnated while consumption has risen with population growth, urbanisation and changing diets.

Farmers face chronic shortages of improved seed varieties, timely chemical fertiliser, reliable irrigation and modern machinery. A large share of paddy land depends on the monsoon, so a weak or late rainy season directly cuts the harvest and widens the import bill. Fragmented landholdings and youth out-migration to foreign employment further constrain output.

Most imported rice comes from India, with some from Vietnam. Import volumes swing with domestic harvests and with Indian export policy: when India restricts rice exports or raises duties, Nepal's imports fall and domestic prices rise. This is why rice appears every year among Nepal's top imports and why food security remains a live policy debate.

The single biggest change in Nepal's trade profile over recent years has been the explosive growth of refined edible-oil exports. Nepali refiners import crude soybean and palm oil under low tariffs, process it, and sell the refined product to India duty-free under South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) rules. Because India levies higher duties on crude oil from third countries, Nepal-refined oil enjoys a price advantage in the huge Indian market.

This arbitrage has pushed soybean oil to the very top of the export chart, with values reaching tens of billions of rupees and a large share of total exports in FY 2024/25. On paper it makes Nepal's export growth look spectacular, but the value added inside Nepal, essentially the refining margin, is thin, and the trade is vulnerable to a single stroke of policy.

The risk is that India can change its tariff or rules of origin at any time to close the loophole, as it has periodically threatened. If that happens, a huge chunk of Nepal's reported exports could vanish overnight. Analysts and the Kathmandu Post have repeatedly warned that this makes the export surge fragile and urge a focus on genuine value-added and agricultural exports such as cardamom, tea, carpets and pashmina.

Electricity is the most dynamic item in Nepal's trade story because the country has flipped from chronic importer toward net exporter in the wet season. Nepal's hydropower is mostly run-of-river, so generation peaks during the monsoon and falls in the dry winter. As a result, the Nepal Electricity Authority still imports power from India in winter while exporting surplus power in summer.

The commercial breakthrough came in 2021 when India approved Nepali power sales in its day-ahead energy market, and expanded again in November 2024 (BS 2081 Kartik) when Nepal began exporting electricity to Bangladesh through Indian territory under a trilateral agreement. In FY 2024/25, NEA exported electricity worth about Rs 17.46 billion (roughly Rs 17.19 billion to India and Rs 266.7 million to Bangladesh) while importing about Rs 12.9 billion, netting a profit of around Rs 4.57 billion.

Cross-border transmission capacity between Nepal and India has grown to roughly 1,580 megawatts across lines ranging from 33 kV to 400 kV. With thousands of megawatts of new hydropower under construction, electricity is widely seen as Nepal's most promising future export, one that could eventually help offset the petroleum import bill.

Anyone can verify these figures using official sources. The Department of Customs publishes 'Nepal Foreign Trade Statistics' by HS chapter each fiscal year, giving import and export value, quantity and partner country for every commodity. The HS or Harmonized System is an international numbering scheme, so Chapter 27 always means mineral fuels, Chapter 15 means fats and oils, Chapter 57 means carpets, and so on worldwide.

For export-specific analysis and product profiles, TEPC's website lists Nepal's major export products and the Nepal Trade Integrated Strategy (NTIS) priority list, which includes cardamom, tea, ginger, carpets, pashmina, medicinal herbs, textiles, footwear and leather. Nepal Rastra Bank's monthly and annual 'Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation' reports place the commodity numbers inside the wider balance-of-payments and remittance picture.

When comparing figures, always check the period: Nepal's fiscal year runs mid-July to mid-July (BS Shrawan to Ashar), so an 11-month or four-month provisional figure is not comparable with a full-year total. Values are usually quoted in Nepali rupees at customs valuation, which can differ from retail prices. Keeping the fiscal year and the source in view is the surest way to avoid the mismatched numbers that often circulate in the press.