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Commercial Tropical Forestry Plots - Teal Plantations

Many people like to invest in commercial tropical forestry plantations but it is important  to remember that this is an investment period of around 15 years.

Teak is one of the most versatile hardwoods in the world. Called the “King of Woods”, Teak is one of the most desirable and endangered woods. Considered by the boating industry to be the most valuable and versatile hardwood, not only because of its rare beauty but for its unique properties of strength, stability, and resistance to wear.  

Such properties have made it the most demanded wood for marine use. Teak is found naturally in only four countries in the entire world; Burma, Thailand, Laos and India each have varying amounts of natural teak forests, much of which are unavailable for harvest because of government control. Because of its strong demand and limited supply,

Teak investment is needed worldwide for reforestation projects to expand the locations where Teak is grown. Teak trees grow up to 40 metres tall. It is impervious to all weather conditions due to high oil content. Its resistance has made it a popular tree and a valuable commodity.

Our plantation partners have trees grown from tissue culture which reduces its cycle to 15 years.  Leased plots will be available from March 2010 from. If you wish to reister your interest for the "pre-release" packages/plots please call 0845 050 5371 or email graham@gsacomms.com.

• Commercial uses: Outdoor furniture, beams, boat decking.

• Plantations: Sri Lanka – Malaysia (Borneo) - Thailand. 

The ITTO, or International Tropical Timber Organization publish average import/export prices in a fortnightly report called the Market Information Service. The reports include a table titled “US Imported sawn wood prices”.

These reports show the current average price for Teak. (Currently £2.30 per board foot). Somewhat higher than the £2.17 we use as the board per foot price in 25 years. These can be confirmed by going to http://www.itto.or.jp (click on the Timber Price Index link on this website) and clicking on Market Information Service - you will need to register for this service - then click on download report. Near the end of this report is a section titled “US Imported sawn wood prices” which lists the price of teak in $/m3.

To convert this to a board foot price, divide by 424 (the number of board foot per m3), hence $2125/m3 becomes $5.01 per board foot. Then divide this by the current exchange rate. 1.97 to give you a price in GBP of £2.54 ( Remember this is today’s price not the price in 6/10 etc years time). In the market report you can also see a section titled report from the UK, in which you can see the cost of 1st quality Teak to be £2035-£2350/m3.

According to the historical records of the ITTO (also available to download as above) the average growth in Teak prices from September 1997 to April 2007 has averaged 8.5%. Considerably higher than our projections.