India lifts export prohibition on Bamboo Charcoal

New Delhi, May 20: Indian govt has lifted the export prohibition on bamboo charcoal. It is expected that the move would facilitate optimum utilization of raw bamboo and higher profitability in the Indian bamboo industry. KVIC had been requesting the govt about the same.

 

 

 

 

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), which is supporting thousands of bamboo-based industries in the country, has been persistently requesting the govt to lift the export restriction on bamboo charcoal. Chairman KVIC Vinai Kumar Saxena had earlier written to the Minister of Commerce and Industries, Piyush Goyal, seeking to lift the export restriction on bamboo charcoal for the larger benefit of the bamboo industry.

 

 

 

 

 

Notably, the Indian bamboo industry, at present, is grappling with extremely high input cost owing to inadequate utilization of bamboo. In India, bamboo is mostly used in manufacturing of Agarbatti wherein, a maximum of 16 pc is used for manufacturing of bamboo sticks while the remaining 84 pc of bamboo is a complete waste. As a result, the Bamboo input cost for Round Bamboo Sticks is in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 per MT as against the average Bamboo cost of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per MT.

 

However, export of bamboo charcoal would ensure complete utilization of the bamboo waste and thus make the bamboo business more profitable. Bamboo charcoal for barbeque, soil nutrition and as a raw material for manufacturing activated charcoal, has great potential in international markets like the USA, Japan, Korea, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and the UK.