……Led by Silicon-rich commodities; while Import Costs Surge to Nu 8.1B
Bhutan generated about Nu 10.5 billion (B) in revenue during the second quarter of this year from the export of the country’s top ten commodities, which is a rise by about Nu 3B from the first quarter of this year.
The top ten export commodities include containing by weight more than 55% of silicon, unused postage, boulders, ferro-silico-manganese, dolomite, pebbles, gravels, gypsum, anhydrite, beer made from malt, neither crushed nor ground, lumbs and slabs, amongst others.
Amongst the top ten commodities exported, containing by weight more than 55% of silicon made the highest export worth Nu 3.9B (dolomite), followed by unused postage with Nu 2.5B, boulders with Nu 782 million (M), ferro-silico-manganese with Nu 688M, and dolomite worth Nu 665M. Pebbles, gravel, broken or crushed stone worth Nu 580M made up the remaining contingent of export items.
The top five countries that Bhutan trades with are India, Singapore, Bangladesh, South Korea and Nepal. Other countries that Bhutan exports also include United State of America, Italy, Spain, Canada, Vietnam and Thailand, amongst others.
India, as always, stood the first country which Bhutan exports mostly, with commodities worth Nu 7.6B, followed by Singapore and Bangladesh with commodities worth Nu 2.5B and Nu 1.3B respectively traded.
The commodities that are exported from Bhutan to India are mainly fish (fresh or chilled, excluding fish fillets and other fish meat); apples, pears, nutmeg, maize and cardamoms; seeds of anise, badian, fennel, coriander, cumin or caraway, and juniper berries.
Some of the livestock exported to India include live swine, live sheep and goats, live poultry (that is to say, fowls of the species Gallus domesticus, ducks, geese, turkeys and guinea fowls); products like milk and cream, not concentrated or containing added sugar or other sweetening matter, cheese and curd; citrus fruit, fresh or dried, apples, pears and quinces.
Bhutan exported the least commodities to countries like Thailand and Vietnam worth Nu 2.3M and Nu 9.5M respectively.
At the same time, the amount that Bhutan spend to import the top ten commodities rose to about Nu 8.1B during the second quarter this year, an increase in the import by about Nu 0.7B compared to the first quarter this year.
The increasing cost in the import of the top ten commodities is mainly attributed to increase in the import of the other light oils and preparations worth Nu 2.8B, followed by motor spirit worth Nu 942M, semi-milled or wholly milled rice worth Nu 801M, amongst others.
The top ten imported commodities for the second quarter include other light oils and preparations (HSD), motor spirit (gasolene) including aviation spirit (petrol); ferrous products obtained by direct reduction of iron ore having a power handling capacity exceeding 10,000 kilo volt amperes (kVA), whether or not polished or glazed; semi-milled or wholly milled rice, amongst others.
While the country made the highest import of commodities from India worth Nu 23B, the second highest imports was from China with goods worth Nu 507M.
Bhutan also imported goods from Thailand and Singapore worth Nu 495M and Nu 473M respectively.
The figures were recently revealed in publications by the Department of Revenue and Customs (DRC), and Bhutan Trade Statistics 2024.
By Sherab Dorji, Thimphu
