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After receiving a price of over Rs 1.95 crore for a tonne of A-grade red sanders in the just-concluded global auction, officials of the Andhra Pradesh forest department say they have just seen tip of the iceberg in terms of demand and the multiple use the wood has outside India.
“Chinese importers are already asking us as to when we were planning to sell the remaining stock of the seized red sanders,” K Gopinath, Chief Conservator of Forests, told Business Standard.
However, the overall windfall accruing to the state government from this one-of-a-kind sale is not going to be at the level of the price enjoyed by the A-grade logs since more than 95 per cent of the 4,160 tonne stock auctioned between November 25 and December 1 was of C-grade quality.
According to additional principal chief conservator of forests PK Jha, a total quantity of 3,615 toones across all grades had been sold amounting to Rs 991.41 crore till the last information came in yesterday. Overall, it got an average price of Rs 27.41 lakh for the total quantity involving all the three grades compared with Rs 22-23 lakh received for the pure C-grade stock.
The price bids of around 500 tonnes were not taken into consideration as these were lower than the base price due to quality issues among other things, according to the officials.
The price fetched for C-grade too is a new record in the country since the seized red sanders sold by Tamil Nadu and Chhattishgarh governments earlier this year got a maximum of Rs 13 lakh per tonne from domestic buyers, according to Gopinath. In 2007, it was sold at a little over Rs 1 lakh per tonne.
The governments are going for the sale of red sanders once in a while as they have to get special permission to sell this endangered plant species after their respective forest and police departments accumulate sizeable quantities seized from smugglers.
“We just made our first attempt to discover the global market for red sanders and we still don't know all the details of its uses and the actual value beyond the making of the expensive furniture in China,” Gopinath said. The buyers would be spending another 10-20 per cent over the bid price towards customs and transportation before it reaches its final destination, according to him.
About 30 foreign and 10 Indian buyers actively took part in the auction process while at least 50 per cent of the quantity was expected to be meant for shipping into China, according to the officials. AP has been given the permission to sell a total of 8,584 tonnes. It has kept half of the total quantity aside for sale at a later date.
A sense of uncertainly among foreign buyers following the halt of the auction process in October when the Chennai Green Tribunal issued stay orders had some impact on the price as well, said the officials, who expect the government might fetch a higher price in the second round.
