RASUWA, Feb 12: Woven cane stools worth Rs 3.12 million were exported to China via Rasuwagadhi customs point in the first six months of the current fiscal year.
The stools were made by people serving time in prisons in different parts of the country.
According to Plant Quarantine Check Post at Rasuwagadhi, 12,880 pieces cane stools were exported to the review period.
49,000 bamboo stools exported to China
Purushottam Paudel, who has been exporting cane stools to China, said that the product is mainly exported to Tibetan cities like Lhasa, Shigatse, Nyalam and Dingri. “These stools are collected from inmates serving terms in Sunsari, Kathmandu and Dhading prisons. In other prisons, production is at a very low scale,” added Paudel.
Other traders like Mukunda Paudel, Buddhi Prasad Paudel and Raju Pyakurel are exporting cane stools to China.
Meanwhile, products like cane stools, wooden table and Amrisho (Nepalese Broom Grass) worth Rs 32 million were exported to the northern neighbor in the first six months of Fiscal Year 2017/18. Though the export is of small-scale, exporters say these products have become popular among Chinese people. They expect the demand for cane stools to increase further in the current fiscal year.
“Nepal earned Rs 12 million by exporting 21,455 cane stools in the FY2016/17,” said Ram Narayan Yadav of Plant Quarantine Check Post said.
