Safety matches are a consumer item of everyday use. There are about twenty safety match factories located mostly in the southern part of Bangladesh. In 1984-85 the country produced 940 million gross boxes of safety matches (Anon. 1985). This quantity is enough to meet the entire demand of the country. At present there is no export of this commodity presumably because of scarcity of suitable timber species and strong competition in the international market. The traditional species used in Bangladesh have different unattractive tints.