Flower garlands worth over Rs 135 million are expected to be sold during the ongoing Tihar festival, according to the Floriculture Association of Nepal.

Floriculture Association of Nepal Chairperson Min Bahadur Tamang said that florists are expected to sell 2.4 million garlands during the festival of lights and flowers.

“We have estimated that over 2.4 million garlands would be sold during this Tihar. Demand for marigold garland accounted for 2 million,” Chairperson Tamang said.

The estimated Rs 135 million of transaction of marigolds, globe amaranth and garlands of other various flowers is based on the wholesale price, shared Tamang. “The actual statistic on the trade of the flowers and garlands would be known after the Festival.”

Of the 2.4 garlands demanded, 1.7 million were for marigold and remaining was for globe amaranth, according to the association.

This year around 100,000 globe amaranth garlands were exported from Nepal to various countries including India. The wholesale price for marigold garland is Rs 55 while that of globe amaranth is Rs 40.

Nepal is gradually becoming self-reliant in production of marigold flowers and globe amaranth which are widely used during Tihar festival. Tamang however rued that although the production of marigold and globe amaranth flowers widely used in Tihar was sufficient within the country, businesspersons were importing them from India to gain more profit.

“This year's production is also sufficient to cater to the demand as we have been producing flowers increasingly each year,” he said expressing his dismay over the businessperson's tendencies to import flowers from India to earn more profit.