Factories in industrial clusters cut production, stop exports

BHAIRAHAWA, Feb 5:

Most of the factories in Butwal-Bhairawa and Lumbini industrial corridors have curtailed production citing power cuts.

The situation has become so chronic that some export-based factories have stopped accepting demand from foreign buyers as their production volume cannot even meet local demands.

Butwal Flour Mills stopped export of its products to Tibet from mid-December last year. Rojendra Prasad Ojha, proprietor of Butwal Flour Mills, said they had to stop exports to Tibet as the factory was currently operating only two shifts due to power cuts. Earlier, it used to operate on four shifts.
JK Soaps has also stopped export of soaps to India.

“We had to stop export as we cannot even meet domestic demand due to low production volume,” Ashok Kashaudhan, proprietor of the JK Soaps, told Republica, adding that long power cuts forced to factory to curtail production.

Reliance Paper Mills, which stopped exports to India two years ago, has also been facing the same problem. Daily production of the factory has plunged to 25 tons. Its average daily production stands at 40 tons.
Not only Butwal Flour Mills, JK Soaps and Reliance Paper Mills, other factories in the corridors are facing the same problem. Cost of production of these factories has increased due to increasing use of generators.

“Many factories have significantly lowered production volume due to power cuts,” Bonin Piya, president of Rupandehi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), said. “Some of them have even cancelled purchase orders placed by domestic as well foreign buyers.”

According to Piya, local factories are facing power cuts of as long as 15 hours a day even though Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has announced daily power cuts of 12 hours only.
Krishna Kumar Shrestha, vice-president of Butwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), said erratic and insufficient power supplies have rendered machineries at some factories dysfunctional. “It has become difficult for us to maintain quality due to erratic power supplies,” added Shrestha.

However, Sanjay Mishra, an engineer of Butwal grid of NEA, claimed that NEA has been cutting power as per the time table.

Source: Republica