Birgunj food grain imports fall 63% in first quarter of 2026/27
Nepal's main land gateway cleared far less paddy and maize between mid-July and mid-October 2026, while the value of the rice that did arrive was reported higher in one account and lower in another.
Two published accounts of the same customs data give opposite answers on whether Nepal spent more or less on imported rice at its busiest land border. That is a small puzzle inside a larger fall: paddy and maize imports at Birgunj dropped by roughly four fifths in the first quarter of 2026/27.
The figures come from the Birgunj Customs Office and cover mid-July to mid-October 2026. Food grains cleared at the border point totalled 31.64 million kg, against 87.047 million kg in the same period of 2025/26, a fall of about 63%. Birgunj, in Parsa district on the Indian border, is Nepal's main land trade gateway, so a drop of this size says something about the wider import economy, not just one customs post.
Where the volume went
The fall was concentrated. Paddy imports fell from 39.1 million kg to 6.935 million kg, about 82%. Maize dropped from 33.613 million kg to 6.736 million kg, about 80%. Rice fell from 9.401 million kg to 6.773 million kg, about 28%. Buckwheat, millet and other grains slipped from 2.342 million kg to 1.641 million kg, about 30%.
Source: Birgunj Customs Office; Nepal Standard calculations
The accounts disagree on rice. One gives the volume as 67.73 million kg against 94.1 million kg, with the value rising from Rs 89.81 million to Rs 700 million. The other gives 6.773 million kg against 9.401 million kg, with the value falling from Rs 898.1 million to Rs 700 million.
The second version is the one that fits. The total for the quarter was 31.64 million kg, so rice alone cannot have been 67.73 million kg. Likewise, 94.1 million kg of rice would exceed the 87.047 million kg total for the prior-year period. A misplaced decimal looks the likely cause. There are smaller variations too: paddy value is given as Rs 333.5m or Rs 333.35m, and last year's maize value as Rs 1.8013bn or Rs 1.813bn.
What the values show
Paddy imports were worth Rs 1.4628bn in the first quarter of 2025/26 and about Rs 333.5m in the same quarter of 2026/27. Maize fell from about Rs 1.8bn to Rs 609.8m. Rice slipped from Rs 898.1m to Rs 700m.
Source: Birgunj Customs Office
Dividing value by volume suggests a pattern. Declared paddy values work out at roughly Rs 48 a kg, against about Rs 37 a year earlier. Maize comes to about Rs 91 a kg, against about Rs 54. Rice is near Rs 103 a kg, against about Rs 96. These are calculations from customs-declared values, not market prices. Still, the direction is consistent: the grain that did cross the border was declared at higher unit values. That could reflect a change in mix, quality, prices or valuation, and the figures alone do not settle which.
The part of the total that grew
The itemised volumes for rice, paddy, maize and the smaller grains add up to about 22.1 million kg for 2026/27, against a total of 31.64 million kg. The remainder, roughly 9.5 million kg, belongs to grains the customs office listed but did not itemise, among them wheat and malt. A year earlier the same sum leaves about 2.6 million kg.
On that arithmetic, wheat, malt and other unitemised grains grew while paddy and maize shrank. This is analysis; only a full commodity table from customs would confirm it. If it holds, the 63% headline understates how much the composition of imports changed.
Who gains and who loses
Domestic farmers and millers would be the natural beneficiaries if the fall reflects stronger local supply, but no source here reports harvests, prices or policy changes, so that link is unproven. Importers and clearing agents handling paddy and maize at Birgunj would plausibly face lower throughput, given how sharply those volumes fell.
What to watch
A commodity-level table from the Birgunj Customs Office would reconcile the rice figures and show wheat and malt. The second quarter of 2026/27 will show whether the fall persists. Any official explanation, whether on domestic output, import rules or pricing, would clarify the cause. The unit values will show whether this is a lasting change or one unusual quarter.
How this story was made: researched and written by The Standard’s desk with AI assistance, from the published reporting and official data credited below, and checked against those sources. Our standards.
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