Pulses and Grain Traders in Nepal: Following Every Lot from Godown to Payment

A pulses or grain trader makes money on a thin gap: what was paid for a lot, what it sells for, and everything that happens in between. Storage, weight loss in handling, a few sacks spoiled by damp, a buyer who pays forty days late instead of fifteen, and a price quoted from memory that was lower than it should have been. Each of these is small, and together they can erase the margin on a whole lot. Packers who clean, bag and brand dal face the same pressures, plus the work of keeping several pack sizes in stock. Instead of a general overview, this guide follows a single lot from purchase to payment and shows where the gap leaks and what to record at each step.

The trade in brief

Traders buy lentils, chickpeas, beans, peas and grains from importers, mills and domestic collectors, hold them in godowns and sell to town wholesalers, retailers, hotels, hostels, sweet makers and institutions. Goods move in standard sacks or loose by the quintal. Supply follows harvests and import flows, so prices move through the year, and demand jumps ahead of festivals and the wedding season.

	Bulk trader	Packer with a brand
Unit sold	Sack, quintal, kg	Small packs in several sizes
Buyers	Wholesalers, retailers, institutions	Shops and supermarkets on routes
Main stock risk	Old lots, damp, insects, weight loss	Pack-size imbalance, dates on packs
Main money risk	Large balances with a few buyers	Many small balances on routes
Sales work	Phone and relationships	Officers visiting shops

Many businesses are both. The steps below apply to either.

The life of a lot: a worked example

The numbers below are hypothetical and chosen to make the arithmetic easy.

Step 1: Buying and receiving

Suppose you buy 100 quintals of masoor dal at a price that leaves a gross gap of a few rupees per kg against your current selling list. The lot arrives at Godown A.

What to record: receive it into the branch for Godown A as a batch, with the receipt date and supplier reference, as a SKU for that product and grade. Weight goes in kg. From this moment the system knows the lot exists, where it is and how old it is.

Where the gap leaks if you don't: with three lots of the same dal in one godown and no dates, the newest gets sold first because it sits nearest the door. The oldest gets sold last, if at all.

Step 2: Sitting in the godown

The lot sits for a few weeks. Some sacks are handled several times, a corner of the godown takes on damp after a heavy rain, and a few sacks are torn.

What to record: damage and handling loss as their own stock movements, with a reason, in the week they happen. Movements in gamitrack are append-only, so the trail cannot be quietly rewritten later.

Where the gap leaks: if shrinkage is not recorded, it shows up at the month-end count as an unexplained shortage. You cannot then tell normal handling loss from damage, a weighing problem or theft.

Step 3: Pricing and selling

The market moves. You update your default price list, keep a separate list for wholesalers and set overrides for a few large buyers. Price resolution is override first, then party type, then default.

What to record: every order, whether booked by an officer on a route or by the office over the phone, is priced from the list. VAT is applied only to taxable lines, and invoices are numbered per fiscal year in IRD format. Check the current IRD rules for which of your products are taxable.

Where the gap leaks: prices quoted from memory, or by whoever answers the phone. Two buyers get different rates for no reason, and the lower one becomes the new expectation.

Step 4: Dispatch and delivery

Orders are grouped by route and day. Each product carries its weight in kg, so you can see the total weight of the day's orders against vehicle capacity before loading. Dispatch is all-or-nothing per order, so an order is never left half-dispatched in the records.

What to record: assign a delivery person. On delivery, the driver records GPS location, a photo and the receiver's name. If the buyer pays on delivery, the driver records the payment straight away.

Where the gap leaks: "we received 48 sacks, not 50" with nothing to show either way.

Step 5: Waiting for payment

This is where most margin disappears. Suppose your terms are 15 days and the buyer pays on day 45. The money you had in that lot was tied up three times longer than planned, often on borrowed funds.

What to record: due days fixed from dispatch, payments allocated to the oldest invoices first, and a weekly look at aging. Payments can be cash, eSewa, Khalti, Fonepay, bank or cheque, and advances are kept on the ledger.

Where the gap leaks: informal collection rounds that nobody tracks, and long-standing buyers whose balance nobody likes to mention.

The weekly rhythm

Day	Job	Where you look
Monday	Oldest lots first; stock by godown; aging by buyer	Batch list by branch, aging report
Tuesday to Thursday	Officers on routes, deliveries going out	Visits, orders, delivery proof
Friday	Collection follow-up; orders not yet dispatched	Weekly collection plan, order list
Month end	Physical count; explain every variance; review prices	Stock movements, price lists

Routes and visits for packed lines

If you sell packed dal or grain to shops, build separate routes for retail and for hotels and institutions. Officers start the day with GPS, visit stops with a geofence check and photo, and end each visit with an order or a no-order reason. Visits outside the geofence, too short or without a photo are flagged, so the manager reviews only those. Low-stock levels on packed SKUs tell the packing unit what to bag next.

Rules that protect the margin

• Give every buyer a limit and terms, including those you have traded with for years. Write them down.
• Hold new dispatch when a buyer's overdue amount passes the agreed level, unless a named person approves.
• Record shrinkage separately from sales and from count differences.
• Sell the oldest lot first. If you cannot say which lot is oldest, you cannot decide.
• Keep negotiation history in internal notes on the buyer, never visible to dealers, so the next person on the phone knows the background.

Questions traders ask

Is a system worth it for a small trader with one godown? Start with one godown and your ten biggest buyers. If aging and lot age become clearer in a month, extend it. If not, you have lost little.

Can returns be handled? Yes. Damaged or rejected goods come back as returns with a reason, are reviewed and, once approved, return to a branch with a credit note.

Can I see sales by weight rather than amount? Products carry kg weights, and targets can be set in kg or amount.

Related reading

For the next step down the chain, see rice and flour mills in Nepal and running a wholesale thok business. For credit, read collecting payments on time. Industry page: FMCG and packaged food.

Next step

Load one godown with its current lots and your ten largest buyers, then follow aging and lot age for a month. Plans and the free trial are on the pricing page, or contact us.