Andhra Pradesh Government had postponed the auctioning of seized Red Sandal logs that are in government godowns. The auction was supposed to begin from 19th of this month through e-tender and e-option is now pushed to the next month. The auction will now take place from October 10th to 17th. This decision is taken so as to attract more bidders from China and Japan. Two forest official would visit Xianyou, a Chinese town famous for its furniture market to hold road show and pre-bid meeting on September 15. Similar meetings would be held at Beijing on September 18 and at Tokyo on September 22.
The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has allowed AP government to export 8,584 MT of red sanders wood in log form by amending EXIM policy but AP is only auction 4000 tonnes currently. The red sandal logs are divided in to three grades with the least grade costing 10 Lakhs per ton. Currently, Center has permitted Red Sangal export only till October 31st. As the auction is expected to take more time, the state government has written to the Center to extend the time. Chandra Babu Naidu’s government had pinned high hopes on this auction to get as many funds as possible for the loan waiver scheme.
