December 27: The government had banned collection of timber from forests since the last seven months in order to preserve the forest ecosystem. The government’s decision is having ripple effects on the furniture market at present. The price of wood has increased by Rs 700 per cubic meter. During this period, the country imported wood worth Rs 400 million from Malaysia, Thailand and India through Biratnagar customs alone.

The price hike has been attributed to the ban imposed by the federal government. Kusum Regmi, the operator of Regmi Sawmill, says that the local manufacturers now have to depend on imported wood after the government banned collection, production and distribution of wood inside the country.

Nepal imported wood worth Rs 150 million between mid-May to mid-July despite lockdown imposed by the government during the period.

Operator of Inaruwa-based Krishna Sawmill, Pradeep Koirala, says that they were forced to import wood from Malaysia after authorities from the central monitoring team did not allow them to bring lumber from the forest. Koirala informed that the government has not allowed them to collect high-quality timber while it only allows to bring low-standard wood from the forest.

Wood from the Sal tree, which was available for Rs 4800 per cubic feet in Biratnagar, now costs Rs 5500 per cubic feet. Koirala says the same quality wood is available for anything between Rs 2000 to Rs 2800 in India while it costs Rs 2500 in Bangladesh.

Chief of the District Forest Office, Morang Aniruddha Kumar Sah says that the wood from Sal tree is the first choice among people of Nepal for construction of houses and this has led to a massive decline of the plant species.

The DFO informed that 60,000 cubic feet of wood belonging to the Sal tree were felled for annual use as of May 28.

The office informed that the Council of Ministers banned collection of wood to preserve the species. This has resulted in price hike in the market and smuggling of timber as well.