Nepal mVAM Market Bulletin 1: October-November 2017

KEY FINDINGS

• In September 2017, retail prices of most monitored food commodities showed an upward trend as compared to last month and 3 months earlier. This increase is mainly due to the lean season effect for most monitored crops, and the partial obstruction of road access and transportation services caused by monsoon-induced floods and landslides.

• Rural and remote markets reported relatively higher increase in food prices, and more limited or insufficient food stocks than main markets.

Methodology:

This monthly mVAM market survey is conducted in eight districts of the mid– and far–western mountains of Nepal to monitor the price, supply and availability of basic food commodities, and transportation services in 33 main and rural markets (see Map 1 in page 2). Data is collected through phone interviews with traders conducted by trained call centre operators.

Price situation:

• Overall, the average retail price of most food commodities increased in September 2017 compared to previous month (with the exception of the price of coarse rice and soybean oil) and 3 months earlier (see Table 1).

• The price of red potato showed the highest increase both within the last month before the survey (+7.4%) and compared to three months earlier (+47.3%).

• Road access was a major determining factor in price trends. Average retail prices of food commodities were lower in the districts with better road access and conversely higher in those districts without or poor access to roads. For example, the retail price of coarse rice was almost three times higher in Humla (135.0 NPR/kg) compared to Darchula (33.1 NPR/ kg) in September 2017. Likewise, the retail price of wheat flour was almost three times higher in Humla (155.4 NPR/kg) and Dolpa (120.0 NPR/kg) as compared to Darchula (42 NPR/kg) and Bajhang (43.5 NPR/kg). Prices of other commodities such as chicken meat and soybean oil were also more than 50 percent higher in the district without or poor access to roads (see Table 2).

Market situation:

• In September 2017, about 50 percent monitored markets showed an improvement in demand and supply of food commodities, mainly in the big markets with good road networks.

• However, traders in the remote and small rural markets reported that transportation services were disrupted due to partial or temporary damage of roads caused by floods and landslides (see Figure 1). As a result, prices in the markets were relatively higher than the market with regular supply of food commodities due to partial disruption of supply and transportation services.

• Most traders reported that food stock in the monitored markets was insufficient (71.4%), resulting to partial or temporary shortage of basic food commodities mainly in the remote markets such as Khandeshwori bazaar in Darchula, Shreenagar and Maila markets in Humla, Mugraha in Kalikot and Tarapani bazaar in Mugu districts.

• It was reported that people residing near small rural markets with insufficient food supplies often went to the main markets to purchase sufficient food and non-food items.