India Should Exercise Caution Over Myanmar Timber Imports

By Rajeev Bhattacharyya 16 November 2022

The confusion over Myanmar timber exports to India was laid to relaxation final month when the central authorities in New Delhi knowledgeable the Indian border state of Mizoram that timber was not on the restricted checklist of commodities from Myanmar.

New Delhi’s directive was in response to a letter written by Mizoram governor Hari Babu Khambhampati in search of clarification on the problem of timber imports, following a petition by an affiliation of wood-based industries within the state pushing for the elimination of timber from the restricted checklist of commodities.

India’s Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal stated that solely two varieties of timber – tough sandalwood and tough pink sanders – are on the restricted checklist of imports from Myanmar.

Illicit timber consignments from Myanmar have been seized at a number of areas in India’s northeast and West Bengal over the previous few years. In July, eight vehicles had been seized in Siliguri, West Bengal and Burmese teak value 24 million Indian rupees (US$300,000) was confiscated. An official was quoted by the media as saying that a minimum of 50 individuals had been concerned in a racket to smuggle timber from Myanmar.

India accounted for a median of 42 per cent of Myanmar’s international timber exports between 2000 and 2015, in line with some researchers. In 2013 alone, Myanmar timber value over US$700 million was exported to India, comprising 31 per cent of all India’s timber imports in that yr.

Myanmar timber, particularly Burmese teak, is vastly worthwhile for Indian retailers. Teak is broadly obtainable throughout all the main cities and cities in India’s northeast and likewise within the huge metropolises elsewhere within the nation. It can be purchased on-line through Amazon and Indiamart.

Burmese teak can be in excessive demand elsewhere on the planet. A report by Justice For Myanmar, an advocacy group that screens Myanmar’s navy regime, stated that greater than 1,700 tons of teak was imported by america in 2021, regardless of sanctions in place because the coup. One other report discovered 27 Italian merchants importing teak in 2021, despite the fact that the European Union has prohibited its sale.

In contrast to america or Europe, although, India and neighboring nations face an hostile environmental impression from Myanmar’s timber exports. Local weather change in a neighboring nation is sure to have a cascading impact on India, one thing which has already been underscored by scientists learning the phenomenon.

If some residents and militants of Mizoram districts bordering Myanmar who’re engaged in smuggling are to be believed, huge swathes of forests have been worn out in Myanmar’s Chin State and Sagaing Area, which each border India. These claims are supported by reviews on deforestation in Myanmar printed over the previous few years.

One estimate says that 1.3 million acres, or two per cent of Myanmar’s tree cowl, was misplaced yearly between 2010 and 2015, that means that Myanmar is experiencing the third-highest fee of deforestation on the planet after Brazil and Indonesia. A report by the Asian Improvement Financial institution means that the main causes of deforestation are timber manufacturing and concessions for business agricultural land.

Myanmar and India’s northeast are amongst 36 biodiversity hotspots on the planet. The Indo-Burma area, which is among the many largest of those fragile zones, covers Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, in addition to the North India River Plain, the Brahmaputra valley and components of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

India is taken into account to be very susceptible to local weather change. The northeast of the nation is already being impacted by the phenomenon, as evidenced by the erratic rainfall sample within the area. This frontier zone has additionally witnessed extreme depletion of its personal tree cowl over the previous few years, accounting for over 70 per cent of tree cowl misplaced in India between 2001 and 2018.

In all chance, timber exports from Myanmar to India will improve given India’s present development increase. Consultants undertaking a compound annual development fee of greater than six per cent from 2023 to 2026 for the development sector, with India tipped to stay among the many high 5 largest development markets on the planet.

Commerce between India and Myanmar, each authorized and illicit, helps massive numbers of individuals on each side of the frontier. A few of these persons are militants who’re both immediately engaged in smuggling or revenue from it by imposing taxes on contraband passing via their areas. Timber, together with betel nut and methamphetamines, is among the many most worthwhile gadgets being smuggled.

Rajeev Bhattacharyya is a senior journalist in Assam, India.