Festive fair price shops record Rs 151.5m turnover

KATHMANDU, NOV 05 -

Government-run fair price shops recorded Rs 151.5 million transactions during one-and-a-half-month festival season.

The shops were set up to ease the availability of essentials at relatively lower price during Dashain, Tihar and Chhath (from September 17 to October 31).

Salt Trading Corporation (STC), Nepal Food Corporation (NFC), National Trading Limited (NTL) and Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) ran 71 such shops across the country with eight in the Kathmandu valley.

Saroj Nidhi Tiwari, coordinator of fair price shops, said STC recorded the highest turnover, followed by NFC, DDC and NTL.

STC’s sales amounted to Rs 85 million. It sold essential commodities like sugar and salt at subsidised rates. Officials said 950,000 kg of sugar and 470,000 kg of salt was sold from STC’s stalls. Rice, sugar and salt were among the top selling items.

NFC sold rice and pulses of various types worth Rs 45 million, while DDC sold ghee worth Rs 2.5 million, and NTL sold electronic items worth Rs 19 million.

Tiwari said this year’s sales surpassed last year’s figure. “We ran the shops for 45 days, against 63 days last year, but the transaction record surpassed last year’s transaction,” said Tiwari, adding the shops played a very important role in intervening in the market during the festival season.

STC sold sugar at Rs 63 per kg (a discount of Rs 5 per kg) and salt at Rs 13 per kg (a discount of Rs 3 per kg). NFC offered a discount of Rs 5 per kg on rice and wheat, while DDC sold ghee at Rs 740 per litre.

NTL’s transaction was relatively less compared to last year’s figure. “We had recorded a transaction of more than 20 million last year, but the figure came down this year,” Gita Niroula, department chief for sales at NTL, said. “Mostly, we were selling stocked items this year.” NTL offered discounts of up to 70 percent on various home appliances.

Source: The Kathmandu Post