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Production and Trade

It is difficult to find data on the total production and trade involving exports and imports for Nepal due to the lack of organized data and also due to the existence of illegal internal markets and across the border with India and Tibet. However, in comparison to high-scale timber exporting countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, the commercial wood production and trade in Nepal is smaller. Though data on illegal logging and trade are difficult to get, it is very clear that these activities need to be controlled in time, otherwise this will adversely affect the forestry sector in Nepal.

Nepal is a net timber products importing country. Table 1 lists the changes of timber production, consumption, import, and export in 1996 and 2000⁵⁸.

Table 1: Production, Consumption, and Trade of Timber Products in Nepal (in 1996 and 2000, 1000 m³)

According to the data from FAO, the total roundwood production in 1996-98 was 20,993 cubic meters, with 20,373 cubic metres of woodfuel and only 620 cubic metres of industrial roundwood⁵⁹. The export value of forest products is 1 million US $ whereas the import value is 1.4 million US $ with an export import trade deficit of 0.4 million US $. Wood trade export accounted for only 0.08 percent of the total exports in 1997. The majority of exports go to the Indian markets. Due to the protection of high-value forests in Terai as national forests and protected areas, and the lack of a sufficient strategy for utilizing these forests, the timber trade does not occur in a significant amount. It has been reported that during the fiscal year 1996/97, Timber Corporation of Nepal marketed 882,227 cubic feet of logs, 113. 493 cu ft of sawn timber, and 1,888 chattas of fuelwood⁶⁰. Being a subsistence economy, the majority of the rural population is dependent on forests for fuelwood resource, which is the main energy resource. Therefore, most of the wood market is for fuelwood. The annual rate of use of fuelwood according to 1997/98 data was equivalent to 14.1 million metric tonnes of fuelwood. WECS (1995) mentions that about 16 percent of the total fuelwood used in Nepal passes through commercial channels i.e. about 2.2 millions tonnes of fuelwood is traded through the markets in Nepal.

Trading of non-timber forest products (NTFPs)- both unprocessed and semi-processed (such as, herbal products, resin etc.) is done from Nepal. NTFPs represent a significant source of revenue for individual households, community groups and national economy (Edwards 1996). It is estimated that about 65 percent of the total collection is exported to India⁶¹. The first NTFP trade survey conducted in 1996 by ANSAB found that approximately 42 thousand tonnes, consisting of more than 125 different NTFPs were handled by about 100 traders in 1995. This trade amounted to more than $ 26 million in 1995⁶².