March 3: The export of Nepali tea has increased by 30 percent. 

The export of Nepali tea has gone up by 29.9 percent in the first seven months of the current fiscal year compared to the same period last fiscal year, according to Trade and Export Promotion Center.

Nepal had exported 7,846 metric tons of the tea worth Rs 2.8 billion in first seven months of the last fiscal year. During the same period in the current fiscal year, total tea export stood at 12,564 metric tons worth Rs 2.71 billion. 

Nepali tea is being exported to 166 countries including India, the United States of America, Germany and the United Kingdom. In the export of agricultural products, tea comes only after cardamom. 

According to National Tea and Coffee Development Board, Nepal had exported 11,920 metric tons of the tea worth Rs 3.79 billion in the fiscal year 2077/78.

 Information Officer Dipak Khanal of the National Tea and Coffee Development Board said that the export quantity had witnessed massive rise as the tea from the last year's stock was also exported simultaneously.

Saying that quality of Nepali tea was not at par with international standard, India had banned the mixing of Nepali tea with tea from Darjeeling last year. 

Nepali tea entrepreneurs had failed to export tea due to the Indian ban last year. As a result, 3,000 metric tons of tea was in stock in Jhapa. 

Following the Nepal government's diplomatic efforts, India had lifted the ban.  

Despite the increased demand for Nepali tea this year from different countries, selling of the stock tea was the main reason behind the rise of tea export this fiscal year, Khanal said.