Fine. Say it is the raw material bamboo and not the finished product furniture.
It's the same kind of market and logic. Politics has no place here, it is the
market and the price. If it costs more to send to Delhi from Assam than from
China, Assam's bamboo will not sell in Delhi.
I didn't say ULFA was the goonda, it could be any of the many groups that
exist under the guise of insurgency whose only goal is to make a few bucks by
showing the gun.
Isn't Assam bamboo a contraband item that cannot be sold in India and cannot
pass through the gates? That'll make it expensive for sure. :-)
Did GOI make it difficult for truckers to truck to and from Assam? I forget.
Dilip
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
First off, you got it mixed up again:
Rajib was NOT speaking about manufactured goods. He was talking about the
raw material : bamboo.
> Also I wouldn't be surprised if today's transportation cost from Assam to
>Delhi is higher than that between China and Delhi due to all the gate fees and
>goonda fees one pays in Assam.
*** So it is the MIDDLEMEN . Goonda-tax / gate charges are NOT charged by the
growers if I am not mistaken. Then WHO is it? And where is the benevolent
Indian governance -- is it not supposed to PREVENT that?
Oh, I see now! It must be the ULFA!!!
Are you serious?
At 12:16 PM -0800 3/5/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
OMG! There is no government control in domestic furniture business and it is
a free market in India at least in furniture. The furniture dealer in Delhi
knows only profit, he does not care about politics between Assam and India. He
sells the products for which he can make the maximum profit - based on quality
of the product, ready availability and reliable supply. The product may come
from China or from Assam, he doesn't care and doesn't have to. The middlemen
between him and the bamboo grower work on the same principle - supply a product
and make money. At the end if he can't sell because he is charging too much
money due to greed, he is the one who is losing the market. So, who is the
middleman in the chain who is charging too much and spoiling the whole show?
The furniture manufacturer? The wholesaler? The transporter? I suspect it is
the manufacturer because he doesn't have the machinery his counterparts in East
Asia have. Also I wouldn't be surprised if today's
transportation cost from Assam to Delhi is higher than that between China and
Delhi due to all the gate fees and goonda fees one pays in Assam. Dilip
===============================================================
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I don't know. Low import prices could be due to dumping or a ploy to
build market-share or there could be a number of other reasons. High
prices of bamboo MUST be due to Indian middle-men's mark-ups. Surely
bamboo producers get pea-nuts, around Rs. 10 in upper Assam if I am
not mistaken,for a normal sized mature bamboo. I am no expert. You
are the guys who should know.
If SE Asian countries' bamboo producers are selling bamboo for export at say
Rs. X per piece, with transportation cost ( must be a whole lot more
than from the NE), that HIGHER import duty and dealers' profit added;
still selling it at a price at Dilli lower than those from the NE,
then the value of X must be less than zero ( being donated or heavily
subsidized ). That being unlikely, the answer must be:
A: That Indian middle-men making a killing, while robbing
the producers blind.
OR
B: The whole story is another Indian myth, concocted to demonize
the NE, no doubt to shore up the other myth---that the place
has nothing of value to India, like so many of our assamnetters
argue to support their claim that Assam or the NE cannot survive
without Indian handouts/dole.
What do you think or believe?
At 9:39 AM -0800 3/5/07, Rajib Das wrote:
>Actually what I heard was that the cheaper prices were
>despite higher import duties on raw materials. And
>that there was better reliability of supply and
>quality.
>
>Any guesses why free market efficiencies are not
>coming to the picture?
>
>
>
>
>--- Chan Mahanta wrote:
>
>> I don't know Rajib. Why, if it is so?
>>
>> Do SE Asian countries export bamboo to Dilli?
>>
>> If so, that would be yet another case of blatant
>> discrimination and
>> exploitation of the NE: Thru Dilli's protectionist
>> policies of import
>> restrictions of essential commodities to deprive the
>> consumers of the
>> NE of competitive pricing for quality goods, while
>> rewarding its
>> business classes elsewhere in the country by
>> allowing entry of cheap
>> raw material from outside and thus depriving its own >> of its market
>> share.
>>
>> As an MBA dedicated to the free market economy and
>> as a
>> desi-patriot, how does that grab you :-)?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> At 6:32 PM -0800 3/4/07, Rajib Das wrote:
>> >For a workshop in Delhi, why is bamboo costlier to
>> buy
>> >from Assam today than importing from the south east
>> >asian countries?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >--- Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
>> >
>> >> O'Mahanta,
>> >> I think I read your mind. That is exactly what
>> I
>> >> was thinking. Can the lumber stock be made in
>> Assam
>> >> from the bamboos widely available in Assam - for
>> >> example zati or Bholuka banh in kamrup? What
>> >> preservatives are needed and are they readily
>> >> available? The bamboo has to be cut at the right
>> >> time, it has to be stored at a certain
>> temperature,
>> >> need the right preservatives, need the right
>> >> shrinkage, need the right machines to process
>> the
>> >> stock and what else?
>> >> Would we need know-how from China, Taiwan or
>> >> Japan? If so, who and what prevents us from
>> getting
>> >> it?
>> >>
>> >> Bamboo is becoming expensive in Assam also, a
>> sign
>> >> of globalization I guess. Still if there is a
>> margin
>> >> in the end product, cost of raw material should
>> not
>> >> be a problem.
>> >>
>> >> See there is a prospect for the unemployed in
>> >> Namti. :-)
>> >> O'Deka
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Chan Mahanta wrote:
>> >> Thanks Ram.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Actually I was not thinking of importing to
>> USA at
>> >> all. Nor was I considering the finished goods.
>> Those
>> >> could be made by skilled carpenters and
>> builders. It
>> >> is the engineered lumber stock, made and sold to
>> end
>> >> users for whatever
>> >> purpose they can imagine. It could be a fine
>> >> product for use locally, considering that good
>> >> quality timber, if available, is like gold.
> > >>
>> >>
>> >> But I am looking into it. Will see where it
>> might
>> >> lead.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> c-da
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> At 12:54 PM -0600 3/4/07, Ram Sarangapani
>> wrote:
>> >> C'da, These are just fantastic. Love the
>> >> coffee tables. It must have been a lot of hard
>> work.
>> >> With reference to marjeting of bamboo
>> products,
>> >> years ago (I think around 1995 or so), a friend
>> of
>> >> mine from Guwahati wanted to market plywood
>> (with
>> >> compressed bamboo filling: ie two plywood sheets
>> and
>> >> inside would be this bamboo compressed pulp -
>> the
>> >> best I can describe). I took the samples (he
>> had
>> >> sent) to some of the local Houston people in the
>> >> construction business. Several of them were very
>> >> interested. There were several problems: (1)
>> the
>> >> price was way too high. (2) the resin that was
>> used
>> >> was a substance the would not pass US import
>> >> regulations (Not a fire retardant)
>> >> It didn't go thru, of course, but for those
>> >> interested in exporting bamboo products, these
>> are
>> >> some things I experienced first hand, and may
>> come
>> >> in handy. Further, for finished products,
>> some
>> >> of the places to try would be like Pier 1
>> Imports
>> >> (stores like that). As most people already know
>> >> supplies must be consistent and uniform, and
>> often
>> >> such stores may want varying quanties, sometimes
>> in
>> >> a hurry. One big problem for a many products
>> >> from India in the finish. Compare products from
>> >> China or Taiwan, Indian products may be
>> functional,
>> >> but definitely lack the finish. Your table
>> on
>> >> the other hand loked fabulous. --Ram On
>> 3/4/07,
>> >> Chan Mahanta wrote:
>> >> http://flickr.com/photos/cmahanta-stl/
>> >>
>> >> 3 Images of Mboo ( copyrighted name) Cofee Table
>> >> from the workshop of
>> > > yours truly.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> I just completed a coffee table that I made from
>> >> left over bamboo
>> >> floor boards, which are engineered from strips
>> of
>> >> glued and laminated
>> >> bamboo. I machined off the grooved bottom
>> surface of
>> >> the 5/8" thick >> >> floor boards with a recently acquired 13" power
>> >> planer to a thickness
>> >> of 1/2", glued the two together to make an one
>> inch
>> >> thick board,
>> >> ripped off the tongues and grooves on a radial
>> arm
>> >> saw, planed the
>> >> thin edges off by clamping together several
>> boards
>> >> and voila: I had
>> >> 1" thick X 3.5" wide engineered bamboo lumber to
>> >> build furniture with.
>> >>
>> >> The bottom shelf is made from 3/4" thick medium
>> >> density fiber-board (
>> >> MDF) finished with bamboo veneered wall covering
>> (
>> >> expensive @ $
>>
>=== message truncated ===
>
>
>
>
>____________________________________________________________________________________
>Do you Yahoo!?
>Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
>http://new.mail.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________
assam mailing list
[email protected]
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
_______________________________________________
assam mailing list
[email protected]
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
