Hair matters: Coastal hair is world’s crowning glory

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Dec 30, 2013: The economy may be in a slump, but the one sector that is doing booming business is the export of human hair. Some 3,000 tonnes of human hair have been exported so far this year to various European countries, China and the USA, from Vizag port. At a rough estimate, this bizarre export is worth Rs 1,500 crore.

Traders dealing with hair from five districts — Vizag, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, East and West Godavari — have been exporting from Visakhapatnam Container Terminal since the last three years. Earlier, they were exporting from Chennai port.

The trade in human hair has been on the upswing — it was 2,240 tonnes in 2011-12 and 1,500 tonnes in 2010-11.

One tonne of human hair costs Rs 50 lakh in the international market, though the price varies according to length, density, volume and quality. Hair that is over 18 to 30 inches-long sometimes costs $300-$450 per kg.

The traders get the hair from thousands of hawkers who collect it from roadside haircutting saloons, households and temples where tonsuring takes place.

“There is a lot of demand for virgin remy hair (quality hair) in European countries like Switzerland, Italy and France. We get the remy hair from temples like Simhachalam, Dwaraka Tirumala and Annavaram. Non remy, which is inferior quality, goes to China,” explains Y.V. Rao, member of the human hair exporters’ association and owner of Golden Hair Company.

He said that a kilo of hair is bought in the domestic market for an amount ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 50,000 depending on the quality of the hair.

Hair auction brings Rs 5 crore every year

Visakhapatnam: A senior official of the Visakhapatnam Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd (VCTPL) says that every month at least eight to 15 containers of human hair weighing 20 tonnes each, are exported. “Besides European countries, the containers go to Jebel Ali port in Dubai, UAE, and Port of Busan in South Korea and to many South Asian countries,” he said.

Seeing the demand and to cash in on it, officials of the famous north Andhra Varahalakshmi Nrusimhaswami Temple in Simhachalam are planning a global e-auction of the human hair that is offered at the hill shrine by lakhs of devotees.

For the past few years, Simhachalam temple has been selling hair offered by devotees through offline tenders which brings in Rs 5.7crore annually.

The Endowment Department is planning e-auctions of the hair through the Metal and Scrap Trading Corporation (MSTC) Ltd, a Central government enterprise.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams is already into global e-auction of human hair.

Every day about 1,200 local devotees and about 3,000 devotees from other parts of India get their hair tonsured at Simhachalam as offering to the presiding deity Sri Varahalakshmi Nrusimhaswami.