The Ministry of Agriculture has announced the specifications for imported firewood and charcoal after banning the sale of local firewood and charcoal in the Kingdom's markets. In a circular to all the administrations, Muhammad Bin Abdullah Al-Sheeha, Undersecretary-designate said the ministry has received many enquiries regarding the exact specifications of imported firewood and charcoal. Hence the ministry said the specifications for firewood stipulate that it should be natural firewood and not compressed or manufactured wood like plywood, veneer wood, granular wood or fibrous wood. Each piece should have a suitable length and round cross section or should be longitudinally cut into two pieces or more. The pieces should not have bark, and the firewood should not be made of sawdust. It should be dry, and the unit of weight should be the ton or kilogram. Charcoal should be in packs with suitable weights and the unit of weight should be the ton or kilogram. The charcoal should be completely formed, and it should not have been manufactured from agricultural waste. Impurities should not exceed five percent. The size of the charcoal pieces should be suitable and they should be completely dry. Sayyid Makhdoum Ali, a Pakistani laborer working in a shop for selling charcoal, said that earlier they used to sell local firewood and charcoal, but after the issuance of the decision banning the sale of local firewood and charcoal, they have resorted to selling Somali, Indonesian and Malaysian charcoal. He said Somali charcoal is in the highest demand. He said they have to remove impurities including pieces of wood from the charcoal.
