Businesspersons connected to the timber trade in Mirpur alleged that the supply of timber from Rangamati, Chittagong, Bandarban and Sylhet wood has almost come to a standstill in the last six months.

One shop owner said that the price of a cubic foot (cft) of teak (shegun, which was Tk 1,400 has now reached Tk 2,600 almost double the former price.

Sanwar Hossain, director of Paris Furniture in Mirpur said that the business is going through a bad spell with a 20 percent overall fall.

"If the cost of making a wardrobe was Tk 15,000 we were able to sell it for Tk, 18,000, but now we have to spend Tk 18,000 for making and sell the product for Tk 19,000 with a profit margin of Tk 1,000," said another shop owner. "This profit is not sufficient to cover a day's production and labour costs," he added.

The Mirpur furniture zone started operations in 1990 with Hatil Furniture. Selim H Rahman, owner of Hatil Complex Ltd said they were facing two major problems.

"The abnormal increase in price of timber and import of foreign furniture. Especially the treated rubber furniture from abroad is destroying the local industry," he said.

Bazlul Karim, Paris Furniture's managing director, narrated how his furniture business started. "After Hatil started operations in 1990, Paris Furniture and some other firms also opened shops with the idea of having spacious showrooms. By 1995, the business was booming.

Most furniture outlets linked to the Mirpur Furniture Association is being helped by Katalyst -- a multi-donor-funded venture to promote growth and competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh.

Selim said: "Katalyst mainly helps us with ideas to develop internally. They ask us to have a good accounting system and skill development in place. They located a chartered accounting firm, which does all our accounts at a very low rate. This was possible because Katalyst arranged the interaction between the firm and us."

Another owner said: "Katalyst brought an instructor from Germany to train us in using machines to increase productivity. This helped the workers a lot in developing skills to improve product quality and quantity".

Sources from the Timber Association said there is a stocklot of timber worth around Tk 100 crore in Bandarban and Rangamati. The timber is priced at Tk 77 a cft, but the timber firms have to bribe government officials Tk 50 a cft.

When contacted, State Minister for Environment and Forest Jafrul Islam Chowdhury said there are absolutely no obstacles to supply of wood.

"Only illegally logged timber is not allowed to be transported," added the minister.