Gangtok, Nov. 14: Chinese trade through Nathu-la continues to falter compared to business on the Indian side. But it is not the global economic meltdown that has hit the neighbouring country.
Rather, it is the “obsolete” items, which China can export, that have made the trade a one-sided affair.
The volume of trade from May 19 to October 30 stood at nearly Rs 59 lakh as against Rs 34.6 lakh in the same period last year. The Sikkimese traders exported items worth Rs 57.6 lakh, while the imports from China were Rs 1.35 lakh. Edible items topped the list of articles sent to China in 2008, the third year since the reopening of the trade route located at 14,400ft above sealevel.
Official records of the trade through Nathu-la available with the Sikkim commerce and industries department reveal that the businessmen from the state have a monopoly over their counterparts in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in China. While the Indian exporters can send 29 items, including tea, flour, vegetable oil, cigarettes and liquor, China can sell 15 items permitted by India.
Anil Kumar Gupta,General Secretary, India-China Traders’ Association, said the Chinese could have done better if silk was permitted to be exported by them. “The list of items that the Chinese can export includes obsolete articles like goat’s hair, yak’s tail, China clay and horses. Our exports could have touched the crore mark had we been allowed to sell Basmati rice.”
Quoting official figures, Gupta said this year, over a thousand traders from Sikkim had visited the Renquingang trade mart in TAR, 16km from the border, while double the number of their Chinese counterparts came to the Sherathang post near Nathu-la.
“If more Indian exporters had gone across the border, the volume of trade would have certainly gone up,” he said.
An official of the Sikkim commerce department said the state government had made several attempts to persuade the Centre to revise the trade list but did not get any response. “We had prepared the list and sent it to the Union commerce ministry,” the official said.
The trade through Nathu-la will close on November 30. The traders from both the countries will meet at Sherathang on that day and review the business conducted through out the year.
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