Govt lifts export prohibition on bamboo charcoal 

The policy amendment will reduce high input cost of raw bamboo and make the bamboo-based industries, mostly in the remote rural areas, financially profitable

Government of India has lifted the export prohibition on bamboo charcoal, a move that would facilitate optimum utilisation of raw bamboo and higher profitability in the Indian bamboo industry. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), which is supporting thousands of bamboo-based industries in the country, was persistently requesting the government to lift the export restriction on bamboo charcoal. Chairman KVIC Vinai Kumar Saxena had 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.

“All the bamboo charcoal made from bamboo obtained from legal sources are permitted for export subject to proper documentation/ certificate of origin proving that the bamboo used for making charcoal has been obtained from legal sources,” read the notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

Chairman KVIC, Saxena thanked Minister of Commerce and Industries, Piyush Goyal for the policy amendment saying the decision would reduce the high input cost of raw bamboo and make the bamboo-based industries, mostly in the remote rural areas, financially profitable.

Notably, the Indian bamboo industry, at present, is grappling with extremely high input cost owing to inadequate utilisation of bamboo. In India, bamboo is mostly used in manufacturing of Agarbatti wherein, a maximum of 16 per cent is used for manufacturing of bamboo sticks while the remaining 84 per cent 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 utilisation 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 US, Japan, Korea, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and the UK.

The policy amendment will reduce high input