According to Ram Prasad Lamsal, spokesperson at MoFSC, a proposal on fixing a price ceiling on timbers has been drafted.[break] “We are going to hold talks with all timber traders,” Lamsal said. “We will finalize the draft proposal after consulting them. We will also include all their reasonable suggestions in the draft.”
Yubaraj Bhusal, secretary at MoFSC, told Republica that the final draft of the proposal will hopefully be tabled at next week’s cabinet meeting. “Once the ceiling comes into effect, traders cannot sell timber at arbitrarily-fixed prices,” Bhusal said. “The ceiling is necessary to control arbitrary timber prices.”
In the last few years, especially after the rise in hooliganism in the wake of the democratic movement of 2006 that toppled the monarchy, market prices of timber have steadily been going up. According to Kapil Adhikari, president of Nepal Forest Products Traders’ Association (NFPTA), the prices of almost all types of timber have shot up by as much as five-fold.
Timber traders attribute the high price of forest products mainly to costly transportation and unnecessary ‘taxes’ being collected illegally by groups of hooligans. “In some districts roads are damaged, mainly in the rainy season. We have to repair the roads all by ourselves. Hence, the transportation cost goes up,” Adhikari says. “Apart from that, various groups have erected illegal checkposts at many places for collecting ‘taxes’. They do not let us pass their checkpoints if we do not pay.”
The minimum price of saal (shorea robusta) logs when auctioned by various community forest groups is just Rs 250 per cubic foot. These logs, according to Adhikari, are sold in local markets, mainly in Kathmandu, for anything from Rs 1,000 to 1,200 per cubic foot. “The prices of all other types of timber differ likewise,” he said.
Timber price has reached a record high as a result of the ban on tree-felling. Saal logs are as high as Rs 4,000 per cubic foot. On July 16 last year, the government slapped a ban on tree-felling in 24 districts, following complaints about massive deforestation. The ban has led to a shortage of forest products, and record high timber prices.
Similarly, for the first time in 15 years, MoFSC has decided to increase the base price of timbers for auction. “Forest products are being auctioned at dismal rates,” Bhusal said. “Even when market prices have shot up, no one cared about increasing the base price for auction. So, we are proposing it.”
The minimum price of all types of timbers for auction were fixed in 1995 when the Forest Regulations were drafted. The price of none of the timbers except saal has been hiked since then. Even for saal, the minimum auction price was increased only by Rs 50.
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