AP govt postpones auction of red sanders

HYDERABAD: The proposed week-long e-tender, e-auction of 4,160 metric tonnes of red sanders logs from September 19-26 has been postponed and it will held from October 10-17.

In 2012 the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the EXIM Policy permitted the export of 11,806 MTs of red sanders wood in log form seized by customs department and other state forest departments including Andhra Pradesh, and which has been renewed during 2013 and 2014.

The Director General of Foreign Trade has accorded permission to the AP government to export 8585 metric tonnes of red sanders from the stock available with the state and in the first phase the state government has put 4,160 MTs of logs for auction.

The 4,160 MTs of red-sanders wood would be auctioned in 177 e-lots containing 1,77,877 logs.

Till now as many as 123 foreign companies and 261 domestic companies have visited five red sanders depots located in Guntur, Kurnool and Tirupati forest divisions.

Interested groups from countries like China, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and UAE have visited godowns across the state to check the quality of the precious wood.

The state government has engaged the services of MSTC Ltd. for conducting sale of red sanders through e-tender cum e-auction. The state government had also constituted an auction team to co-ordinate the auction process of red sanders.

The base price has been fixed at Rs 7 lakh per MT for non-grade, Rs 8 lakh for C grade, Rs 10 lakh for B grade, and Rs 12 lakh for A grade.

AP government has already made efforts to reach out to maximum number of potential purchasers by trying to involve foreign embassies in India and has also written to International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) to pass on the message with regard to auction of red sanders.

The forest officials would also conduct road shows in Japan and China to attract prospective foreign bidders.

For the disposal of the red sanders in the international market in a transparent way by inviting global tenders, a tender committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of special chief secretary, environment, forests, science & technology department to work out the modalities including finalizing the tender document.

Red sanders is widely grown in Chittoor, Kadapa and Nellore districts but its sale is controlled by the Central government. Each tonne of red sanders commands a price of Rs 25 lakh in the international market.

Red sanders fetches a much higher price in the international market if sold in log form compared to value added product form.