With increased curbs on importing products from China by the Centre and the prevalence of COVID-19 pandemic, wooden products made in Saharanpur saw a surge in sales, a top exporter from the city said.
Wood-work exporter Ramji Suneja told ANI, "In Saharanpur, we witnessed a positive impact during the peaks of COVID-19 crises as people discarded China-made products and demand for locally made products made of wood increased here. Manufacturing was an issue during the pandemic but after abiding by the COVID-19 protocols, it got back on track."
Talking about Saharanpur being known as the wooden city, Suneja said this practice has been going on for the last 300 years.
"Saharanpur is called a wooden city and for past 300 years, manufacture of wood-work products is going on. Earlier, exports were nearly of Rs 300 crore but now, Rs 1,000 crore direct export and Rs 1000 crore indirect export are taking place. I believe that about one lakh workers are engaged in making wooden products in the wooden city," he added.
Suneja said that 50 per cent of the produce goes to the USA, 10 per cent to Germany, about 10-20 per cent to Europe and now Dubai also demands Saharanpur wood-work.
On being a part of the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme of the Centre, he said, "We are happy that Saharanpur was included in One District One Product scheme. We also have geographical indication tag by which exporter can directly get products from the manufacturer."
As Saharanpur is set to vote on February 14, Suneja said that there is demand from many platforms and a wood depot and wood bank should be made.
Assembly elections are being held in Uttar Pradesh from February 10 to March 7, 2022 in seven phases to elect all 403 members of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on March 10.
( With inputs from ANI )
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