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The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has urged the Central government to lift the export prohibition on bamboo charcoal for optimum utilisation of raw bamboo and higher profitability in the bamboo industry.

One of the biggest challenges that the Indian bamboo industry faces today is the extremely high input cost owing to inadequate utilisation of bamboo. However, export of bamboo charcoal would ensure complete utilisation of the bamboo waste and thus make the bamboo business more profitable, it said.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena has written to the Commerce and Industries Minister, Piyush Goyal, seeking to lift the export restriction on bamboo charcoal for the larger benefit of the bamboo industry, a release from the KVIC said on Friday.

In India, bamboo is mostly used in manufacturing of agarbatti (incense sticks) wherein, a maximum of 16 per cent, i.e. the upper layers of the bamboo, is used for manufacturing of bamboo sticks while the remaining 84 per cent is wasted completely. The bamboo waste generated in agarbatti and bamboo craft industries is not being utilised commercially, as a result, the bamboo input cost for round bamboo sticks is in the range of Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 per metric tonnes (MT) as against the average bamboo cost of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per MT.

"Compared to this, the bamboo price in China is Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per MT but their input cost is Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 per MT owing to 100 per cent waste utilisation," the KVIC said.

"Bamboo waste can be best utilised by making 'Bamboo Charcoal', which, though, has a very limited use within the domestic market but is hugely in demand in the international market. However, the Indian bamboo industry is not able to tap the opportunity due to its export prohibition," the KVIC said.

"Lifting the export restriction on bamboo charcoal would not only enable the industry to exploit huge global demand but also enhance the profitability of existing KVIC units by proper utilisation of bamboo waste and thus contribute to the PM's vision of 'Waste to Wealth'."

The world import demand of bamboo charcoal has been hovering in the range of $1.5 to 2 billion and has been growing at the rate of 6 per cent in recent years, the release said, and added, the bamboo charcoal for barbeque sells for about Rs 21,000 to Rs 25,000 per tonne in the international market. Besides, it is also used for soil nutrition and as a raw material for manufacturing activated charcoal.

An amendment in the export policy for bamboo products under the HS code 141100 was made in 2017, wherein exports of all the Bamboo products were kept in the OGL category and were free to exports. However, exports of bamboo charcoal, bamboo pulp, and unprocessed shoots are still under prohibited category.