KOTA SAMARAHAN: Made-in-Sarawak bamboo bicycles are expected to enter the Chinese market this year.
Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) general manager Datuk Hashim Bojet said the corporation will sign a memorandum of understanding and a memorandum of agreement with the Chinese company, Brook & Breeze.
A subsidiary of STIDC will be given the responsibility of producing bamboo bicycles commercially for the export market to Shanghai, China.
“Currently, Brook & Breeze has been producing bamboo bicycles in the Chinese market for the past 10 years but it is unable to meet the demand,” he said.
Hashim was speaking to the media after the closing ceremony and certificate presentation of the Bamboo Bicycle Intensive Course at the STIDC Furniture Industry Complex here yesterday.
The bicycle will be produced using sturdy local bamboo known as ‘Bambusa Nana’ which is cultivated in Sarawak farms, he said.
He said Brook & Breeze will determine the number of bamboo bicycles to be produced for export, with an estimated price of US$3,000 (RM13,470) per unit, compared to the current model marketed at US$4,000 per unit by the company.
Hashim said that for now, the furniture industry complex will be the venue for producing the bicycles and will be capable of producing 50 units per month.
Following the plan to export to China, the production capacity for the bicycles will be further increased.
“This (the achievement of producing bamboo bicycles for exports) is also in line with STIDC’s 50th-anniversary celebration (this year),” he added. — BERNAMA
