Nepal's foreign trade increases in first 5 months of current FY

KATHMANDU, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's foreign trade increased by 20.07 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the current 2025-26 fiscal year, following growth in both exports and imports, a government agency said on Monday.

According to the Department of Customs' report, the total trade volume reached 882.69 billion Nepali rupees (6.16 billion U.S. dollars) between mid-July and mid-December, compared to 735.14 billion rupees during the same period in the previous fiscal year.

Exports jumped by 58.17 percent to 116.50 billion rupees, up from 73.65 billion rupees in the first five months of the fiscal year 2024-25, while imports increased by 15.83 percent to 766.18 billion rupees from 661.48 billion rupees during the same period in the previous fiscal year.

The report shows that India and China remain Nepal's top two trade partners, the report noted.

While fuel imports topped the list, Nepal exported the highest volume of soybean oil during the period. (1 Nepali rupee equals 0.0070 U.S. dollar) ■