The Bhutanese mandarin growers and sellers empty sacks of the citrus fruit transported from the villages unto the yard's spacious parking lot and arrange the fruit in small neat piles for the open auction.

The Indian buyers start crowding the yard a few hours later for the auction which begins at around 9 am. A food corporation official mediates the auction for every heap with the rates fixed on a pon (eighty pieces of the fruit make a pon).

The auction done, the Bhutanese seller counts the fruit from the heap in presence of the buyer or a representative, who, at the same time, sets aside all damaged fruits, which will not be bought.

After every pon is counted, the buyer draws a line on the hand of the seller. Once all the fruit has been counted, the number of lines drawn on the hand of the seller is tallied to ascertain quantity sold. The buyer pays the money for the fruit to food corporation office at the yard, which pays the buyer on the same day after deducting a commission of three percent on the gross sale value.

With the fruit flowing in from all six eastern dzongkhags, the Samdrup Jongkhar auction yard is at its busiest. According to auction yard officials, the fruit comes in from Pemagatshel, Trashigang, Trashiyangtse, Mongar and Lhuentse dzongkhags with maximum production from Pemagatshel and from the Gomdar region under Samdrup Jongkhar dzongkhag.

While most of the mandarin flowing to Phuentsholing town is exported to Bangladesh, mandarin from the auction yard in Samdrup Jongkhar goes to the local market of the Indian state of Assam, which borders Samdrup Jongkhar. “Most of the fruit goes to Rangia, Tezpur, and Guwahati in Assam,” said Raman Ali, a mandarin buyer based in Rangia. All the buyers at the Samdrup Jongkhar auction yard are Indian fruit merchants.

Some Bhutanese exporters buy the fruit directly from the growers and transport it straight from the orchard to the export market said auction yard manager Karma Chindu. Exporters who are based in Phuentsholing pay the growers in advance and growers become obliged to sell them their fruit the following season.

According to Karma Chindu, mandarin growers in the east would benefit more if exporters competed with the Indian buyers at the auction yard in Samdrup Jongkhar. Some of the growers said that auction prices depended on the flow to the yard. “We get better prices if the flow is less,” said Sherub Gyeltshen, 48, from Denchi village in Pemagatshel. “So when exporters take the fruit from the orchards directly, the supply to the auction yard dwindles and prices are better.”

This season the auction prices of mandarin in Samdrup Jongkhar have been better than last year according to auction yard officials. Prices this season have so far reached a high of Nu. 185 a pon with the lowest at Nu. 18 a pon.

According to Karma Chindu mandarin growers in the east rarely grade the fruit. “Some do grade their fruit but they mix it up with the small sized fruit hidden under the large sized fruit,” said Karma Chindu. “On the other hand, the 30 or so Indian buyers are all veterans in the business and often quote low prices on the grounds that the fruit has not been graded.”

This year's production is also reported to be better. Fruit drop, which had affected growers since the last season in Phuentsholing, Gelephu, Sarpang, Dagapela, Samtse and Nganglam has not been reported in the eastern districts.

Bhutanese sellers in Samdrup Jongkhar constitute a handful of growers who buy the fruit at the orchards and bring it to Samdrup Jongkhar. Tenzin Wangmo, 60, of Narphung brings about three to five consignments a week. She has been in the business for more than a decade. “Prices for mandarin has increased over the years,” she told Kuensel. “But potatoes fetch a much higher profit than mandarin.”

Nidup Gyeltshen brought about 140 pons of the fruit which sold for prices ranging between Nu 120 and Nu 30 a pon. He buys the fruit from growers in Narphung and Tokorong. He makes about Nu 30,000 in a good season. Transportation of the fruit to Samdrup Jongkhar was one of the main concerns in the past according to the growers. But the problems have eased with new feeder roads built by the government.

For years mandarin growers from Orong transported the fruit to Samdrup Jongkhar on horseback following a mule track along the river. Now horses are hardly used after a road reached the village last year.

For some places it is still a long walk. Nima Gyapo, 35, of Shikshi Pangthang under Gomdar, walks four hours to the nearest road point, Tokorong, to transport the fruit to Samdrup Jongkhar. Nima Gyapo brings about 200 pons of mandarin in a consignment from his village. For this he hires about 20 horses to carry the fruit to the road point for which he pays Nu 15 for every pon. He pays an additional Nu. 20 a bag to truckers to take the fruit from Tokorong to Samdrup Jongkhar.

About 50 different sellers come to the Samdrup Jongkhar auction yard everyday to auction the fruit. “But the total quantity on average would be just a bit more than a truckload in a day because sellers brings in small quantities of 30 to 40 pons only,” said Karma Chindu.

In January the Samdrup Jongkhar auction yard sold 70,276 pons of mandarin. The majority of the fruit, 43,676 pons, came from within villages under Samdrup Jongkhar followed by 16,160 pons from Pemagatshel, 8,420 pons from Trashigang, 1,569 pons from Mongar and 451 pons from Tashiyangtse.