The first phase of Red Sandal auction which began on Monday has registered some extraordinary figures. The auction went on to see abnormal prices as high as 1.5 Crore to 2 Crore for A grade Timber and 20-25 Lakhs on an average for Metric Ton across all the grades.
It is said that several trades from out country as well those from China and Japan participated in the auction. This auction of 4160 Metric Tonnes of the total 8460 Metric Tonnes will go on till December 5th. The government is expect a whopping 800-1000 Crore from this first phase auction.
Metral Scrape Trading Corporation (MSTC) which operates under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel, Government of India has taken the responsibility of inviting tenders from the buyers. Andhra Pradesh government even took up extensive publicity in foreign countries so as to attract more buyers. The red sandal logs are divided in to three grades with the least grade costing 10 Lakhs per ton. Chandra Babu Naidu’s government had pinned high hopes on this auction to get as many funds as possible for the loan waiver scheme.
