The association said the market has been flooded by cheaper Indian products, making the Nepali products uncompetitive.

“Indian ghee brands like Patanjali and Britannia, among others, have eaten into the market share of Nepali products,” said Prahlad Dahal, general secretary of the association.

The Patanjali ghee costs Rs720 per litre, while the average price of Nepali ghee stands at around Rs750. Moreover, ghee produced by local dairies costs up to Rs900 a litre.

“As Indian ghee is cheaper, the government should impose additional taxes to make Nepali products competitive,” he said, adding the recent earthquake has also slowed the demand.

The association claimed Nepali dairy product manufacturers, including big industries like Sitaram Dairy, Chitwan Dairy, Nepal Dairy and Sujal Dairy, have a stock of ghee and butter worth Rs1.5 billion. The Nepali industry produces 5,500 kg of ghee daily.

“In India, the government provides subsidy to farmers and the manufacturing cost is also cheaper. That’s why the Nepali products become expensive even in the domestic market,” said Pradip Maharjan, president of the Dairy Industries Association of Nepal and proprietor of Kathmandu Dairy.

“We are facing difficult times as we are unable to compete with imported products.”

He said the ghee maker under the association alone have a stock of 500 tonnes ghee.

Ganga Prasad Timilsina, general manager of Dairy Development Corporation, said the state-owned enterprises has 650 tonnes of ghee and butter in stock.

“As our production cost is high, we cannot sell our product at less than Rs750 a litre,” he said. “As a result, the demand is very low in the market.”