Is Nepal’s dairy sector headed for recession?

The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation and private dairy firms have yet to pay farmers around Rs6 billion citing sharp drop in consumption.

In April last year, the Nepali dairy industry surprisingly requested the government to lift the restriction on the import of skimmed milk powder or full cream milk powder to avert possible shortages of milk in the domestic market. Dairies cited reasons such as the Covid pandemic and the prevalence of lumpy skin disease in cattle as the reasons behind the drop in domestic milk production.