Nepalis consume Rs 1.22 million worth sugar during festivals

Nepalis consumed around Rs 1.22 million worth sugar and over Rs 100,000 worth salt everday during the Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals, according to the government data.

The Salt Trading sold Rs 77.10 million worth sugar, Rs 6.8 million worth salt and Rs 25 million worth foodgrains in two months during the Dashain, Tihar and Chhath festivals from its fair price shops from September 17 to November 18, the secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister Krishnahari Baskota said during the evaluation meeting here today.

Likewise, Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) sold Rs 35.10 million, Diary Development Corporation (DDC) sold Rs 6.8 million and National Trading Ltd did some Rs 19.26 million worth commodities, according to the preliminary statistics, he said, asking the officials to collect data of annual consumption of daily consumable goods, apart from preparing the ways to effectively monitor the market, tame unnatural price hike, maintain smooth supply of consumer goods, and give continuity to the fair price shops.

He also directed the officials to take strict action against black marketers to ensure the smooth supply of consumer goods.

The Commerce Department has in the last two months monitored the market some 460 times, the department informed in the meeting. But the rare market monitoring has not been able to crack whip on rising inflation nor has it been able to penalise the blackmarketeers.

Government directs to import sugar for festive season

The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has directed Nepal Food Corporation, National Trading and Salt Trading to import sugar to guarantee smooth supply during the festive season that starts next month.

Earlier, a cabinet meeting on May 30 had already decided to import 30,000 metric tonnes of sugar on one per cent customs duty by October 17 to maintain smooth supply during Dashain and Tihar, the greatest festivals in the country.
Every year during the festival season, the market witnesses a shortage of sugar due to government and its agencies apathy towards the people.

The ministry has asked the Nepal Food Corporation and National Trading to import 5,000 metric tones each and Salt Trading to import 15,000 metric tonnes of sugar, said, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies  Deepak Subedi. “The Finance Ministry has also been asked to release budget and help set up fair-price shops during the festivals like earlier years to ensure smooth supply during Dashain and Tihar,” he said, adding that a three-member committee led by Director General of the Department of Commerce and Supplies Management has also been formed to effectively monitor sales of sugar.

STC approves 25 per cent dividend

Salt Trading Corporation will distribute 25 per cent dividend to its shareholders.
The annual general meeting of the government promoted trading corporation approved distribution of 15 per cent cash dividend and 10 per cent bonus shares today.
In the last fiscal year, the corporation had undertaken transactions worth Rs 4.31 billion. "In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, our transaction has gone up by almost 20 per cent with trading of consumer goods worth Rs 3.76 billion," informed chairman of Salt Trading Laxmidas Manandhar.
The Nepse-listed corporation is the largest distributor of iodised salt in Nepal and has a pretty big market share in sugar also. Since the last two years, the company has also started bottling and selling liquefied petroleum gas to consumers.
The corporation is also one of the highest dividend payers among the listed companies. Last year, it had distributed 35 per cent dividend. Shares of the corporation were last traded in October, 2012 at Rs 226 per unit.

Salt Trading to ensure smooth supply during festive season

Salt Trading Corporation (STC) promised to ensure smooth supply during the festive season.

“The corporation will ensure smooth supply of goods during the festive season like earlier years,” general manager at Salt Trading Urmila Shrestha said today, at a programme organised here to mark the 50th anniversary of the corporation,

The corporation has however, witnessed a net profit of around Rs 800 million in 2011-12 from a fiscal year ago’s Rs 650 million, according to the corporation that claimed to have traded essential commodities worth Rs 4.61 billion in fiscal year 2011-12.

Salt Trading needs to contribute to ensure proper supply and distribution of essential consumable goods and erode black-marketing, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications Surya Prasad Silwal said, adding that the government should utilise Salt Trading to control market price.

The government should utilise Salt Trading to control syndicate and cartel of private players, he said, adding that Salt Trading can play an important role in controlling the price of essential commodities by opening its own outlets with a reasonable price structure.

The corporation has an investment from the private sector and National Trading at a ratio of 79:21, respectively, according to it.

Salt trading — one among the four listed trading companies under the trading sub group — has listed 394,683 units of shares at Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) at the face value of Rs 100 per unit that was traded at Rs 261 per unit on February 13, the last trading date.

Similarly, director general at the Department of Commerce and Supply Management Narayan Prasad Bidari urged the corporation to maintain transparency. Salt Trading should publicise the details of its transactions, he said, adding that a clear and transparent trade mechanism will help the company maintain credibility.

The corporation should also clarify all allegations against it, said Bidari, hinting on the recent corruption charge worth billions of rupees labelled against it.

Salt Trading to distribute dividends

Salt Trading has decided to distribute 30 per cent dividend -- 10 pe cent cash and 20 per cent stock -- to its share holders.
"The decision has to be approved by the Finance Ministry," according to the board of the salt Trading that is listed in the secondary market. It is one of the actively traded shares in the secondary marker and last traded at Rs 307 on February 22.
Salt Trading has listed 247,777-unit shares at Rs 100 paid up value per unit making a total of Rs 24,777,700 listed paid up value. Its market capitalisation as of today stands at Rs 76,067,539.
Under trading sub-group's four companies -- Salt trading, Bishal Bazaar, Nepal Trading and Nepal Welfare Company -- a total of 830,177-unit shares are listed. Of the four Salt Trading and Bishal Bazaar have Rs 100 paid up value per unit share of each company whereas the remaining two has Rs 50 paid up value making the total paid up value of Rs 78,467,700 of the four.
Bishal Bazaar and Salt Trading are the actively traded shares in the secondary market. Bishal Bazaar saw its shares being traded at Rs 2,936
But Nepal Trading saw its shares being traded last on September 27, 2000 at Rs 56 per unit and Nepal Welfare Company saw its shares being traded last on September 1, 2008 at Rs 95 per unit.
Meanwhile, the Nepse today dropped by 3.18 points to close the market at 361.12 points due to all the six sub-groups traded today ended in red zone.

Shareholders of Bishal Bazaar Company gain

Except for the shareholders of trading sub-group, all others lost this week.
After a long time Bishal Bazaar Company saw its 324-unit shares being traded on Thursday to push the trading sub-group's index up by 8.57 points to 290.35 points. Bishal Bazaar's shares were traded between Rs 3,213 (maximum) and Rs 3,150 (minimum) making a total of Rs 1,029,060 transaction. The shareholders gained Rs 100 as the shares last time were traded at Rs 3,100.
Of the total nine sub-groups, two sub-groups -- manufacturing and others -- did not see any changes in their indices as manufacturing sub-group did not see its shares being traded throughout the week whereas others group had a rollercoaster ride before closing at 646.19 points equal to the last week's closing.
The shareholders of commercial banks, development banks, finance companies, hydropower, insurance companies and hotels have to wait for a couple of weeks to get better prices for their scrips as investors' have not gained confidence yet.
Though the Nespe dropped by only a minimal 0.68 point -- to close at 683.71 points from last week's closing of 684.39 points -- the transaction amount dropped by a whopping 75.79 per cent to Rs 230.97 million against last week's increase of 176 per cent to Rs 953.93 million.
The sensitive index also lost 0.32 point to 183.64 points from 183.96 points. Similarly, the float index also shed 0.23 point to close at 66.03 points from last week's closing of 66.25 points. Similarly, the contribution of Group-A companies also plunged to 14.38 per cent against last week's 46.99 per cent.
The top performers of this week are NCC Bank (with Rs 30.70 million), Bank of Kathmandu (with Rs 14.62 million), Standard Chartered Bank Nepal (with Rs 13.48 million), Citizens Bank International (with Rs 12.82 million) and Nepal SBI Bank (with Rs 10.71 million).
National Hydropower company topped the chart in terms of share units traded as its 1,11,000-unit of shares changed hands, whereas Nepal Express Finance topped the chart in terms of number of transactions with 563 transactions.
The sole secondary market this week also added 175,71,593-unit rights shares of Nepal Investment Bank, Siddhartha Development Bank, Infrastructure Development Bank and Pokhara Finance.

Trading sub-group
KATHMANDU: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has listed only four companies -- Salt Trading Corporation, Bishal Bazaar Company, Nepal Trading Ltd and Nepal Welfare Company Ltd -- under trading sub-group. Bishal Bazaar Company has listed its 4,91,400-unit shares at Rs 100 per unit face value making it to a total of Rs 49,140,000. Similarly, Salt Trading Corporation has liated 247,777-unit shares at the face value of Rs 100 per unit making it to a total of Rs 24,777,700. Nepal Trading Ltd has listed its 50,000-unit shares at Rs 50 per unit paid up making it to a Rs 2,500,000 and Nepal Welfare Company has listed its 41,000-unit shares for Rs 50 paid up per unit making it to a total of Rs 2,050,000. The trading sub-group has a total of 830,177-unti shares worth Rs 78,467,700.