According to the statistics made public by the Customs Department, face masks worth Rs 1.85 billion and sanitizers worth Rs 135.39 million have been imported in the last nine months.
Nepal has imported 139.83 million masks from 37 different countries.
During this period, most of the masks have been imported from China. The government has spent 826.46 million Nepali rupees for the import of 13.53 million masks from China. After China, 120,000 masks worth Rs. 137.32 million have been imported from Denmark.
Other countries from where Nepal has imported face masks include Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, UK, USA, Vietnam and Namibia.
Hand sanitizers worth Rs. 135.3 million have been imported in the last nine months.
Sanitizers have been imported from Bangladesh, China, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, UAE, UK and USA during the nine-month period. During this period, most sanitizers were imported from India.
Despite the establishment of adequate mask and hand sanitizer industries in Nepal after the coronavirus epidemic, large-scale imports from India and other countries have not diminished.
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