• Teak Investment

    A teak investment is set up for 15 years. A long time, but very good for the environment, a solid contribution to sustainable forestry and social aid, but also a good opportunity to earn green and good interest.

    Teak Investment request

TEAK INVESTMENT IN SHORT

Teak has been experiencing steadily increasing demand for years. This noble wood is a popular material for furniture or building material.
Again we ‘work’ according to a proven pattern for years:

  • The land owner gets 50 percent of the yield,
  • The investor gets 36 percent
  • And 14 percent remain for other project of the Mama Earth foundation, which also takes over the management.

A teak seedling costs only 20 Euro. If those seedlings do not grow, for whatever reason, they will be replanted at our expense. In order to let them grow into thick trunks, our certified foresters plant the trees at a distance of 4 x 4 meters, i.e. a maximum of 625 seedlings on one hectare.

OUR FLEXIBLE INVESTMENT

Benefits for you

✓ Ownership of the trees, which are all numbered, without a doubt by a notary contract
✓ Low start-up costs thanks to our own tree nurseries
✓ Successful cooperation with the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
✓ Regular counting and measuring with logs
✓ Area measurement with GPS and editing for Google Earth
✓ Accompaniment of the entire project by our farmers

Benefits for the people

✓ The farmers keep their own land (no land grabbing)
✓ The local people get work (social responsibility)
✓ The farmers get 50 percent (management and guard)

Benefits for nature

✓ No plantations (monocultures)
✓ Destruction of illegal wood trade
✓ Protection of the jungle
✓ Satisfied farmers do not sell to international corporations
✓ Land will be used ecologically and for a long time

TEAK INVESTMENT IN DETAIL

Is a teak tree profitable as an investment if the investor only has 36 percent of the timber yield? In any case, and precisely because we leave so much space. A 15 year old teak tree (36 centimeters in diameter, 12 to 15 meters in height) has around 0.60 cubic meters of recyclable wood. The price for a cubic meter of teak is at least 580 euros, which corresponds to 1.36 euros per board feet or 77 pesos per board feet. Our sample stock has a value of 348 euros (60% of a cubic meter). We only expect 300 euros to cushion currency fluctuations, etc. A share of 36% for the investor corresponds to 108 euros, 150 euros for the landowner and 42 euros for the Mama Earth Foundation.

We do not need to deforest the trees midway, because they get all the necessary nutrients due to the space between them.

TWO POSSIBLE WAYS OF INVESTMENT

Fixed investment with a notarized contract

You invest 20 Euro per planted tree and get back 90 Euro after 15 years. Including a notarized contract that identifies you as the owner. The minimum amount for an investment is 150 trees.

Request an investment
Request an investment

THE ART OF TEAK PLANTING

We provide more space for the tree than similar suppliers. Some plant 1.000 trees or more on one hectare. Our foresters see no problem in that, if the trees are young and the root balls are still small. With 1.000 trees per hectare and a planting density of 2,5 x 2,5 meters, each tree has 6,25 square meters, at three meters depth 18,75 cubic meters to the ground available. According to our foresters that is far too little to provide a strong tree with the enough nutrients. Therefore, after a few years, the plantations are cleared with no significant yields, just to feed the remaining trees more nutrients that they had to share in recent years.

Giving a tree not enough ground space is like a flower growing in pot that is too small. After some time, the root ball takes up the whole space of the pot. The soil in the pot still provides enough supply, but the tree will not grow any taller this way. A good gardener repots the tree into a bigger pot with more soil. It is not that easy when it comes to trees. From the beginning we give the tree space that is three times bigger: 60 cubic meters. This way we are on the safe side for a healthy and strong growth.

Or think about in differently: If we were to plant twice the number of trees, our teak tree would cost only half of it. A starter package of 150 trees costs 3.000 Euro including a notarized contract.

THE STEPS OF A TEAK INVESTMENT

  • You decide and mail us

    We need the desired number of trees, whereas the minimum amount is 150 trees and you must make a prepayment of one Euro per tree.

  • Preparation for the notarized contract

    For the notarized contract, we need your complete address with zip code, birth date, marital status (married/divorced etc.), if you are married, we need the name of your wife, one or two legal heirs, each of their birth date, a copy of your ID or passport (scan via email or bring a copy to our office)

  • The notarized contract

    With your information we draft the notarized contract and send it to you as a PDF file via email for checking. The number of trees is already listed in your contract. If all your information is correct, the actual contract will be sent out six fold by mail. You need to sign all six contracts and send them to a notary in Hamburg (address can be found in the letter).

    • As a customer, you will get one of the contracts after it got notarized
    • The notary records two of them
    • Another two are deposited at court by the notary (address with email address are shown in the contract)
    • The last one gets archived by the Mama Earth Foundation

  • Transmission of the balance

    After about six weeks, the notarized contract will arrive via mail. With the receipt of the remaining sum within two weeks, the contract is legally valid.

RISK ASSEMSSMENT OF THE TEAK INVESTMENT

Like any investment, our investment must withstand a risk assessment. Especially as a foundation, we are bound by much more strict regulations in regards of transparency and sustainability than conventional investors.

Forest fires

Due to the many rainy days, forest fires are almost impossible. Unlike in Europe or North America, here the humidity is constantly high. Damage caused by storms is very unlikely and has never presented any problems in the last 25 years.

Political system

As far as the political situation is concerned, as a local foundation in the Philippines, we are fundamentally better off than foreign investors. Nevertheless, we must keep an eye on the situation. There is no guarantee for development. The system is currently under development but not unstable.

Currency

The exchange rate of Peso to Euro tends to fluctuate and we do not have any influence over it.

THE SOCIAL COMPONENT

There is no need discussing that tropical woods (teak, mahogany, etc.) are in high demand worldwide, which can no longer be ‘served’ by the remaining forests due to severe damage by depletion. Dodging onto local woods could be a solution when those provide hardwood of comparable quality. You cannot use popular wood for furniture. It is only suitable for chipboard and for heating in form of pellets. You need to use high quality wood for durable furniture, whereas the prices for European hardwoods exceed that of tropical woods by far.

Wood, and in our case hardwood, is an essential source of income for tropical countries. The most powerful argument from environmental organizations here is that no return remains to local plantations. People have jobs, which is very welcome, but they do not earn anything from the added value.

Mama Earth’s approach goes deeper:

The farmers earn money on their land and in addition, they profit from the added value of the wood, even more than any other involved party. Is there no disadvantage? Yes, there is one. The program of Mama Earth is much more labor intensive than farming on a plantation. For example, our monitoring team has a lot more to do to make sure trees are standing in a row like soldiers. They measure, cut and climb. No tree is left out.

Contact for a teak investment