Investing in Timber

[a1derfullife]

Disappointing news about Finca Leola

In post 1151, I mentioned that Finca Leola had agreed to a Cease and Desist Order relating to advertising their trees. I've since learned that a company called Ethical Forestry is now acting as a sales agent for Finca Leola in the US and the UK.
What I read on 'Ethical Forestry's' website was disturbing and disappointing. First, they are offering to sell trees for 60 GBP each (at today's exchange rate, this works out to almost exactly $100 per tree - by far, the highest price I have ever seen for this type of investment).
Second, they have two different sets of growth projections on their site, which differ by a factor of two in the projections of board feet produced.
http://www.ethicalforestry.com/teak.php
http://www.ethicalforestry.com/pdf/EFTeakProjections.pdf
I first noticed this difference over two weeks ago, so this is not some momentary glitch. Having such a glaring discrepancy on their web site for so long sends a very poor message about 'Ethical Forestry's' professionalism.
Third, even using the most conservative of the two sets of projections (the one in the pdf file), the projected growth rate is very high. Based on the numbers in the PDF file, and using a 3.5 X 3.5 meter spacing for the teak trees (which Fred Morgan has stated he is using) 'Ethical Forestry' is projecting a mean annual increment of ~ 41 cubic meters per hectare. This is about twice as high as the highest MAI for teak that has been reported up to now, according to this link http://www.treemail.nl/teakscan.dal/files/traders.htm
It's the same old story - charging sky-high prices for trees, and justifying the prices with optimistic growth projections. The fact that Finca Leola has made 'Ethical Forestry' their sales agent for the UK and the US makes me wonder if Finca Leola has any concern for the purchasers of their trees.

A1