CITES relaxes export rule to help Indian furniture market

In what may turn out to be good news for India’s furniture export market, CITES on Monday decided to do away with a restrictive provision in the treaty hampering export of furniture and other items made out of North Indian Rosewood or Shisham – a popular variety of timber.

At its annual Conference of Parties being held at Panama, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora agreed to modify an existing rule on the export of products made out of Shisham. The change may help improve India’s furniture export that dipped since 2016 following the introduction of such a provision in the treaty.

Since Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo) is included in Appendix II of the convention, every export consignment weighing more than 10 kg currently requires a CITES permit.

“Due to such a clause, the exports of furniture and handicrafts made of Dalbergia sissoo has been continuously falling from an estimated Rs 1,000 crore ($ 129 million) per year before the listing to Rs 500-600 ($ 64 to 77 million) per year. Such a decline has affected the livelihoods of around 50,000 artisans who work with the species,” an official said.

It has now been agreed upon that any number of Dalbergia sissoo timber-based items can be exported as a single consignment in a shipment without CITES permits if the weight of each individual item of such a consignment is less than 10 kg.

Further, it was agreed that for the net weight of each item, only timber will be considered and any other item used in the product like metal will be ignored. This, an official said, would be a great relief for the Indian artisans and furniture industry.

Even though Shisham is found in abundance in India and is not treated as an endangered species, the restrictive provision was incorporated in the treaty in the absence of technology to identify the finished products at the customs checking point. When concerns were raised by some of the nations, the wood species was put on the restrictive list.