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Charcoal manufacturer sees exports dampened by wet season
The Lao BKN Company's exports of white charcoal to Japan have decreased because of a lack of supply of raw materials during the rainy season.
The company planned to export 1,200 tonnes this year but in the first seven months exported only a little more than 500 tonnes, company Director Mr Bounoum Phanthapanya told Vientiane Times last week.
“We planned to produce about 80 tonnes a month for export but last month we only exported 60 tonnes because of a lack of raw material to supply the factories,” he said.
People have been having difficulty harvesting mai tiew trees (Cratexylon prunitfolium) to sell to the company because of the rain and many farmers have been focused on planting their rice crops instead.
Although the company was unable to produce enough products to meet its business plan during the rainy season, he expected that the company would increase exports at the end of the year after the rainy season has ended.
The company has signed contracts with many farming families in the city, Borikhamxay and Vientiane provinces to grow more than 1,000 hectares of mai tiew trees.
Those who have contracts with the company should grow new trees or protect existing mai tiew on their lands and then harvest them to sell to the company, said Mr Bounoum.
Each year, the company provides money to productive mai tiew farmers to support their families.
Mr Bounoum said that the trees help people to earn an income because they sell them to the company for processing into white charcoal when fully grown.
White charcoal is in high demand by some countries where it is used as a cooking fuel.
Japan has agreed to buy more than 100 tonnes of white charcoal from Laos per month, if Laos is able to produce enough to meet the demand.
The BKN Company began producing white charcoal for export to Japan in 2004 and the company has now expanded facilities for producing the product in different provinces.
The company will try to encourage more farmers to join the project despite increases in competition from other private companies.
Mai tiew trees grow easily among other species and farmers are encouraged to grow them alongside industrial trees such as rubber, agarwood and eucalyptus so that when trees are harvested, forest cover remains.
Different companies are also struggling to produce products during the rainy season because of difficulties in purchasing raw materials for supply to factories.
vientiane times
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