kathmandu

Herbs Production and Processing Company Ltd has started making profit from the past three years. Established in 2038 BS, the Company has started making profit since fiscal year 2075/76 BS. Company Manager Gyaneshwor Karki said that the Company for the first time had earned Rs 19.2 million after paying tax on its income. Similarly, the Company made Rs 12.2 million profit in the fiscal year 2076/77 BS while audit of the fiscal year 2077/78 BS is underway.

The Company has made profit this fiscal year too. Out of the government’s public organisations in industry sector, the Company is only the institution making profit. The Company has started distributing dividends to shareholders from the fiscal year 2076/77 BS. It has made preparation to issue share for general people once the Company’s audit report the fiscal year completes.

There are currently company’s share members in the government agencies only such as Ministry of Forests and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture Development, Nepal Drugs Limited and Forest Products Development Committee. The Company is working towards increasing capital by selling the company’s share to the public as well. Nepal is home to around 2,000 species of herbal, medicinal and aromatic plants.

The Department has verified 819 types of such plants till date. Altogether 300 varieties of plants are being used commercially. Among them the Company has been trading in 13 types of aromatic and essential oil-based products, shared General Manager Karki. The demand of the aromatic and essential oils in the global market amounts to 17.2 billion USD. The demand is expected to increase by 7.5 per cent annually till 2027.

Nepal had exported aromatic oil worth USD 5 million in 2015 which is 0.02 per cent of the global demand. “Looking at this statistics, Nepal has much possibility of herbal production and processing. There is high demand of herbal oil and products in the international market. Therefore, we are working towards establishing the Company as one of the established companies in the whole of South Asia in terms of production of essential oils and herbal products,” he said. General Manager Karki shared that the Company was moving ahead towards raising the socio-economic condition of the poor and low-income people by creating maximum jobs while implementing the internationally-established good practices in sustainable harvesting of herbs, their cultivation, processing, production and sale and distribution.

The government had provided Rs 180 million to the Company last year for achieving its objectives. This amount was received for investment as per the business plan General Manager Karki submitted to the Finance Ministry via the Ministry of Forests and Environment. The business plan focuses on the Company’s development, expansion and its structural reform.

Out of the amount provided by the government, Rs 100 million is as share while Rs 80 million is in the form of loan. The Company has the target of annual transaction equivalent to Rs 1 billion after the business plan comes into full operation.