A pick-up loaded with olive and other firewood for winter campers in Al Murra suburb.
Cool weather has increased the demand for firewood in Qatar with a number of families camping and staying outdoors over night.
A private company here has imported some 5,000 bundles of olive wood from Sinai area of Egypt to supply to winter camps set up across the country. Camping season lasting some five months began earlier last month.
Olive logs are in demand among campers. Olive has a dense firewood that burns with a beautiful aroma. It burns longer than most species of wood due to the density. When cut into chunk pieces, it burns well in open fires and wood burners.
“We had visited Sinai in Egypt, where there is an abundance of cut wood, recently, to import olive logs for selling in Qatar,” Mohamed Murshid, one of the traders in the business told The Peninsula.
“Our consignment of more than 5,000 bundles of olive firewood arrived here recently. It was our initial order, and we will place more requests according to the demand,” he added.
Murshid was selling the imported fire wood along the road in Al Murra. He was able to trade-off one mini-truck of wood in less than an hour.
“Olive wood produces a beautiful aroma and turns red when set on fire. Hence people use the wood in camp fire. It is also ideal for barbecue; therefore there is a fair demand among citizens. Olive woods are cut into small pieces so that it burns well in open fires. It burns longer than most other woods due to the density,” he said.
In terms of cost also, olive wood surpasses others. “Olive firewood is expensive compared to the local firewood like Sidr. We sell a bundle of olive firewood weighing some four to five Kilograms for QR30. However, a bundle of Sidr of the same weight is available at QR20,”said Murshid.
A number of local families, all set for camping, were seen queuing up for the firewood.
“I work between 2pm to 10pm everyday. The demand for firewood increases duirng weekends. We started the tradings for the season early last month,” said Murshid.
“Firewood is an essential part of winter camping. Normally, local firewood like Sidr is being used in winter camps for heating, barbecuing and making tea and Qahwa,” said Nada, a Qatari.
"Some people also used imported firewood like olive as it has less smoke and strong fire. Olive logs have a gentle scent, fantastic heat, superb flames and burns longer than other local wood. It is also used for special type of barbecues involving big pieces of meat. The strong heat is also used to make marshmallow," she added.
