Red sanders from AP in hot demand
It seems that the red sanders grown in Andhra Pradesh have become the most sought-after for foreign traders if the number of visits by offshore buyers is any indication.
- Offshore buyers flock to AP depots
- Forest Dept to send official teams abroad for trade enquiries
- A total of 4,160 metric tonnes of seized logs to fetch a whopping Rs.1,600 cr
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Hyderabad: It seems that the red sanders grown in Andhra Pradesh have become the most sought-after for foreign traders if the number of visits by offshore buyers is any indication. Many of them visited various depots across the State where seized red sanders were stored and enquired about the possibility of sales.
Following this, the Forest Department has decided to send a team of officials to Beijing, Xianyou, Hong Kong and Singapore from September 7 to hold pre-bid meetings with prospective buyers of seized red sanders of about 4,160 metric tonnes to be auctioned in the first phase from September 19 to 26. The auction is likely to fetch Rs 1,600 crore, according to the officials. A senior official told this correspondent that about 274 teams visited the depots located in Kanigiri, Venkatagiri, Kadapa, Tirupati and Bhakarpeta.
Of them, 193 were Indian visitors, 54 Chinese, 16 Japanese, nine from other foreign countries and one each from Singapore and UAE.
It may be recalled that the AP government has decided to sell 8,500 metric tonnes of red sanders logs seized from smugglers in the international market.
Red sanders have been included in Appendix-II of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1995 and classified as endangered and placed in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1997.
The response was good due to the advertisements inserted by the AP government in international newspapers like 'Financial Times', 'South China Morning Post' ,' The Straits Times' and 'Khaleej Times' as also the publicity given by Indian embassies abroad.
