Although traders said rise in valuation will make goods expensive and could affect overall imports, which has already dropped by 40 percent compared to last year, customs officials ruled out such probability. [break]They said customs valuations were raised closely watching the actual supply rates and prices of goods in the market.
This is the second time that the office increased valuation of goods for tax purpose this year. Previously, the government had raised customs valuation by 25 to 150 percent for all the kinds of products imported from China.
Nirmal Hari Adhikari, chief of Tatopani Customs Office, said customs valuation has been increased this time to bring about uniformity in prices of some products. "We have increased valuation by 5 to 10 percent for some products only," he said.
The items whose valuation has been increased include readymade clothes, garment materials, shoes and sandals.
"We raised the valuation after we found that traders importing goods from China from other customs are paying higher price for the same products," said Adhikari.
The new valuation came into effect from Sunday. But traders had stopped imports from the same day to protest upward revision in customs valuation. They, however, resumed normal businesses after custom officers explained the reasons behind the revision of valuation.
"Traders mainly feared it might lead to further drop in their business," said Rajendra Kumar Shrestha, president of Sindhupalchowk Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Import of goods from Tatopani customs has gone down significantly for the last three months mainly after the strengthening of Yuan against Nepali rupee and rise in minimum wage of workers made Chinese products expensive by around 20 percent. This drop has affected revenue collections at the office.
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