A complex history that has produced such metalwork as can be seen at Hiranya Varna Mahabihar, also known as Golden Temple, has created a strong background for the metalworkers of today to rely on. Early artisans since the seventh century provided for the increasing demands for their products, working with bronze. Present day metalworkers have begun to work with other metals as well such as brass and the most popularly used today, copper. The metals are imported from Malaysia, United Arabian Emirates and other Arabian countries. Shakya and Bajracharya artisans in Patan are highly reputed for their use of the lost-wax process and produce detailed statues for the local and foreign market. Their prominent Tamrakar counterparts prefer to pound their works in the traditional Nepalese style into form, mostly producing jars, plates and ceremonial pieces as well as images of religious value. They display excellent craftsmanship that is threatened by mass production that has generated an increase of fifteen percent in metal craft product exportation from last year sending works around the globe. Metalwork is the third highest art export next to pashmina shawls and silver jewelry bringing in $US 2,700,616 in revenue between the middle of July 2001 and May 2002. Places renowned for their metalwork are Chainpur, Palpa, and Bhojpur, which are better known for fine kitchen utensils, and Patan. The Uku Bahal area in Patan is Nepal's center for copper and bronze statues of Buddhist and Hindu deities.

Metalworkers do not receive support from the government but can go to the Handicraft Association of Nepal for assistance. HAN conducts training and financial consultations for metalworkers so that they can reduce production time and costs. The training focus on statue making, however most Tamrakars produce household products like utensils and plates and HAN has no training options in this practice. As many businesses depend upon the local market, the recent drop in tourism of fifty to sixty-percent has had a strong negative impact on their sales.

Only a few years ago, the metalwork market was restricted to only a small number of families as professional expertise and technical know-how was guarded jealously. It was ensured that but a small number of families from castes specific to the types of metal they worked with, such as Tamrakar that means, "copper worker," could operate in the field. They controlled exports as well as the local market and they kept their trade secrets closely guarded from other families and even their workers. The family members themselves would complete the detailed work so that others could not learn their methods. Businesses could buy up to three thousand kilograms of metals each year but no more unless they wished to buy from one another, this restriction was placed upon the artisans by the government. Today, these restrictions no longer exist and many workshops and stores run by former workers of the original few families have opened as well as factories. In some cases where the artisan clans are sending their children to school and into other professions, such as medicine and engineering, there are not enough family workers left to do the job and outside people are being employed. This has created a greater chance for people from outside castes to enter and break through the barrier that was once so strongly enforced and the field continues to broaden.

Metalwork factories produce work to be sent to Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Europe. However, most businesses that produce metalwork today are small, family owned and operated. Their work is created through a slow process and is mainly sold in the local market. The Shakyas and Bajracharyas have applied the lost-wax method to their work, which allows for greater detail and faster production. The Tamrakars still pound their metals which takes much longer and along with other castes face other difficulties involving the modernization of their work.

As the business expanded in the aftermath of the removal of trade restrictions, so did production. The market has diversified with greater production craft but here are not enough buyers for the work. The citizens of today's Nepal prefer modern products that are more practical for everyday use though there is a growing demand for the statues that are, in many situations priced exorbitantly because of the more lucrative foreign trade. Although the competition to sell products among artisans has increased, one important factor to remember is that it only takes the sale of two statues for a metalworker family to survive comfortably for a month. However, increasingly artists have to face dilemmas in deciding whether to continue with traditional work for which there is a smaller market or to enter into the creation of modern pieces for which there is less money but more buyers. Some metalworkers are leaving the Kathmandu Valley and their trade and going to other countries, like India, the Middle East, Japan, Korea, and the USA where there is a far higher pay even if they are involved in unskilled labor oriented jobs. Younger generations have to face the realities of the present day, a time when the jobs of their parents are no longer promising. Smaller shops are bound to shut down unless there are drastic changes made to support them and, in time. Unless there is far greater push towards marketing hand crafted metal art by the Nepalese government and trade associations, metal workers may be looking at hard times. However, this may not occur as the Nepalese people are starting to go back to using traditional ware as well as it has become fashionable and the new interest among Nepalese people to build in traditional styles as well as restoration projects of heritage sites across Nepal.