A week ago the US Govt. federal agents raided the famous Gibson guitar company. The reason for the raid was the illegal importing of ebony wood from India. The ebony wood is used to make guitars is a distincting wood. The two popular woods, teak and ebony are rarely seen in plantations and forests in India. These wood are sold for very high price in India, and is not affordable for ordinary. Gibson, the guitar maker illegally imported the ebony wood to the US.
This incident may not have any impact on the table tennis industry now, but it may in the future. The table tennis blades are manufactured in Asian countries especially China. The high end blades use wood like Kiso Hinoki which is a distinct wood. To my question, the ITTF president answered three years ago that using precious wood for table tennis blades is not an issue. According to him, there are three other trees planted in place of one tree which was cut to make few blades.
We have to wait and see how some of these laws impact the table tennis industry.
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