Can anyone give me an idea of how much i should pay per rai / tree for a teak plantation (5 year old trees) also any info on managing them.

Cheers

all of information that you want to know is in this site (Thai language)

http://www.dnp.go.th/development/teak.htm

http://www.forest.go.th/Private/teak3.htm

all of information that you want to know is in this site (Thai language)

http://www.dnp.go.th/development/teak.htm

http://www.forest.go.th/Private/teak3.htm

Thanks

Only problem is I can't read Thai. Anyone else have any idea.

all of information that you want to know is in this site (Thai language)

http://www.dnp.go.th/development/teak.htm

http://www.forest.go.th/Private/teak3.htm

Thanks

Only problem is I can't read Thai. Anyone else have any idea.

My guess is that you should ascertain the unimproved value of the land (minus trees ) add the estimated value of the harvest whenever that will be then deduct the costs you will bear in the considerable period before the plantation will give you a return.

Its like how long is a piece of string because there is a huge value difference between a good teak tree and a stunted twisty specimen, buying plantations especially mill grade is like playing russian roulette as you dont know the parentage of the seed-stock, also not all land or areas are great for teak growing.

Take a look at http://www.tropicalhardwoods.com This is an outfit in Costa Rica that owns several teak plantations. They have an interesting business model in that they sell trees (generally seedlings or very young trees) to investors, and they manage the growing and harvesting process. They have a lot of info on their website regarding world market prices for teak, as well as growing and harvesting expenses and projections for teak prices and tree yields in the future.

One thing to be aware of is that that the trees on a plantation need to be thinned out periodically in order to let the strongest trees grow to their maximum size (and value). The problem is that a considerable number of trees need to be harvested well before they are full-grown, and generally speaking, there's no real market for the wood from these young trees. Just something you need to be aware of when calculating your ROI. (The company mentioned above has a unique solution to this problem - they created their own market for the wood from the thinnings - see their website for more info).

I too had thought that a teak plantation in Thailand might be a good investment, but you really need to have someone with a lot of experience growing trees on a plantation managing the business and the plantation on a day-to-day basis.