A Very Special Opportunity - Older Trees and 30% Discount

    Please read on for an exciting update and to learn about a wonderful opportunity to own older tropical hardwood trees, some already more than 80 feet tall and 12 inches in diameter, and enjoy a 30% discount from our regular prices.

    Everyone here at Tropical American Tree Farms, Tropical American Hardwoods and Raleo is excited, and grateful, to announce that after much preparation we are beginning a new, wonderful phase of our growth – the higher volume value added utilization of the young tropical hardwoods from the early thinnings as well as the parts of the trees from later thinnings that would otherwise be less marketable or not marketable, such as portions with natural defects and the smaller diameter upper logs.

    As we have written earlier, with higher volume value adding capacity we can open large quantities of logs, select and market the market-quality lumber, and at the same time process the remainder of the less marketable wood into high-volume value-added products.  And in periods of softer lumber markets for any of our species, we will also have the option of processing otherwise marketable lumber into high volume products.

    Every tree owner will benefit from the increased return from the value creation for the less marketable wood, the flexibility of deciding the best applications for the marketable lumber, and the more rapid conversion of all of the wood into proceeds for tree owners who want us to sell their wood. 

    A group of astute tree owners who know our farms and our operations well approached us and offered their support in beginning to make this expansion possible, for which we are very grateful.  With their kind backing we have moved ahead in acquiring our first group of higher volume processing and production equipment.  We have had manufactured to our specifications two pieces of specialized machinery, especially designed and calibrated to process even the smaller diameter logs from the younger thinnings and the upper logs from older thinnings.  These two new specialized machines are completed and are scheduled to arrive in Costa Rica on March 2.  At the same time our in-house technical team will soon complete the fabricating of three additional pieces of specialized volume processing equipment.  And we are acquiring a complementing nearly-new precision European machine. 

    To house the added capacity, we will shortly sign the lease to expand by 10,000 square feet our production facility in San José.  With this added space and this first group of volume processing machinery and equipment, we can begin producing a portion of our higher volume products, which will in turn allow us to begin again some of our thinnings on the farms and the corresponding distributions. 

    We are all very excited and very grateful for the support of these kind tree owners.

    And yet we have more to do!

    Our objective is to be able to volume process all of the 4 - 6 million board feet of wood per year that the farms will produce from a full thinning and harvest schedule, as well as the approximately 4 million board feet of previously thinned young lumber, cants and logs already in inventory from the prior thinnings.

    Our value-added products and pricing are defined for both the freshly thinned wood from new thinnings as well as the wood from the previously thinned trees. The volume products markets are identified and, now that the first equipment is about to arrive, we are presently recruiting our sales team. We will concentrate initially on the North American, European, Middle Eastern and Latin American markets.

    The reason that we have more to do is that this first group of volume processing equipment is sufficient to process only a part of the new thinnings. To achieve our objectives, we need to continue to expand our capacity until we can process and utilize all of the lumber from a full thinning and harvest schedule as well as the previously thinned young lumber in inventory.

    As is not hard to imagine, acquiring, setting up and operating additional new equipment will require significant capital, capital that we had not contemplated in our business plan because all of the value adding, both by Raleo and now the high-volume processes, is much beyond our original commitment to simply mill, dry and market the lumber. 

    The company net worth is many times the capital required for the expansion of the value-adding capacity, but nearly all is presently invested in company trees, land, and for example the more than $1 million advanced on tree owner’s behalf for the harvest and processing costs for their already thinned but not yet sold or utilized lumber.

    Sherry and I are committed to be a blessing to every tree owner. I know that may sound corny but that is our in-our-hearts commitment. 

    A few years ago we bought personally a 7 acre parcel of industrial property not far from our Raleo factory here so that in a few years we could build a production facility on the land rather than continue to rent. 

    As part of our commitment to be a blessing to all of our tree owners, we have changed our plans and have placed the industrial parcel on the market so that when it sells we can invest further in the company and continue to expand our value-adding capacity.

    It would be better however to continue to expand our value-adding capacity right now and not wait for the industrial property to sell or for normal bank lending to flow again. To be able to expand now rather than wait, Sherry and I have decided to make available a quantity of our older trees and very much encourage you to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.

    By owning some of these beautiful older trees, you will be jumping many years ahead in the growth and age of the trees and also will be buying these trees at a substantial discount – more below.   

    To make it as attractive as possible for you to own some of these wonderful older trees and at the same time allow us to continue expanding our processing and production capacity right now rather than wait for the lending or real estate markets, we are offering these beautiful older trees at an unprecedented 30% discount from their normal prices, shown below.  We are making a wide variety of ages and species available so there will be something to appeal to everyone.  For some species and years there are a few thousand trees available, others, like the 1994 and 1997 teak, only a few hundred, so it would be good to act now.

    The trees, planting years, species and pre/post thinning counting that we are making available are below.  All of these beautiful older trees will be counted and marked either pre-thin or after the thinning indicated.  A great benefit is that you will receive 100% good older trees.

    If you are already a tree owner, as our thank you, you are welcome to include the quantity of trees that you already own to determine your quantity pricing for these wonderful older trees.

    We couldn’t be more excited about this wonderful opportunity!

    This is a very exciting time! 

    We very much encourage you to take advantage of this wonderful offer and to share this very special opportunity with your friends and family. 

    To own some of these beautiful older trees, you may use our regular Tree Order Form available on our How to Order page by writing in the species, planting year and quantity and deducting the one-time special offer 30% discount from the prices shown above.

    You are welcome to use your Visa or MasterCard by simply completing the Voucher, also available on our How to Order page, scanning the Voucher along with your completed Tree Order Form and e-mailing both of the scanned copies.  Or if you prefer, you are also welcome to fax both completed forms to 1-800-787-2813, toll free from North America, or 011-506-2289-9613 dialing direct. 

A Near Perfect Asset

    We often receive warm comments from tree owners very thankful that they own tropical hardwood trees.

    Unlike other investments, you can enjoy the peace of mind knowing that your trees continue to grow and produce, irrespective of the stock market news.

    Bloomberg Wealth Manager writes that investing in trees grown for harvest, for profit is ". . . a source of almost assured growth in tumultuous times."

    Smart Money Magazine writes that " . . . real prices for timber have steadily risen for more than 100 years - better performance than any other commodity . . ."

    Smart Money also says that ". . . timber is a near perfect asset."

    You may enjoy reading Investing in Tropical Hardwoods excerpting more observations by top investment professionals in The Economist, Smart Money Magazine, MoneyWeek, and the Bloomberg Wealth Manager about investing in timber being grown for harvest.

Costa Rica No. 1 in World in Citizen Happiness

    A very kind tree owner has sent us an article reporting that a recent survey of the 143 countries that are home to 99% of the world's population found that Costa Rica "is the happiest place on earth, and one of the most environmentally friendly."

    "Costa Ricans have a life expectancy of 78.5 years, and 85 percent of the country's residents say they are happy and satisfied with their lives."

    It is a pleasure doing business here.

Tropical American Hardwoods

    We are very pleased to announce that now that our farms are producing substantial quantities of more mature tropical hardwoods that are of a quality that can go directly into the international market, we have established a sister company, Tropical American Hardwoods, to market our tropical hardwood lumber directly into the international wholesale market.

    As a small part of that marketing endeavor, Tropical American Hardwoods has created two new tropical hardwood wholesale marketing websites, one of which, EcoHardwoods, is to appeal directly to the environmentally conscious market segment.

    We anticipate that eventually Tropical American Hardwoods will market hardwoods produced by other tropical hardwood plantations as well.

    The two websites are Tropical American Hardwoods, and EcoHardwoods.

    Below are photos of teak from 13-14 year thinnings being prepared to ship for a recent order.

teak lumber from 13-14 year thinnings being prepared to ship

An Example of Raleo's Work

    In our Summer 2007 Tree Owners News we wrote that our sister company, Raleo, had just completed beautiful products for two luxury yachts, all crafted from the young tropical hardwoods from our tree farms.

    We are now permitted to report that one of the two yachts is the 161 foot Lady Michele, featured in the September 2007 issue of Boat International USA.

    Boat International writes that “One of the most eye catching elements on board is the spiral central stairway that connects the three decks” and acknowledges that the Pillow wall of three storey stair barrel is by Raleo. 

Raleo teak Pillow panels of Lady Michele spiral stair barrel

Looking down three decks showing Raleo teak Pillow panels

    Raleo was also commissioned to craft the panels and doors of the Sky Lounge in this magnificent yacht.

Lady Michele Sky Lounge with gmelina panels and doors by Raleo

    You may enjoy the whole article here.

    Young tropical hardwoods from our farms are truly beautiful.

Teak Lumber Prices

    The best published independent authority we have found for international large-scale wholesale tropical lumber prices is the ITTO, or International Tropical Timber Organization, which publishes frequent Tropical Timber Market Reports with, in their words, “the aim of improving transparency in the international tropical timber market.”

    The February 15, 2008 ITTO Tropical Timber Market Report, their most recent report that includes the US imported sawnwood prices, shows that the average US Imported Sawnwood Prices for rough sawn teak lumber is $2,125 per cubic meter, or $5.01 per board foot. 

    In the same Market Report, the price reported for first quality teak lumber in the U.K. market is $4,160 to $4,804 per cubic meter, or $9.81 to $11.33 per board foot.

    Clearly our trees are still young and their lumber is not yet at its prime, and not every log will yield first quality lumber, but it is exciting that the actual prices independently reported for adult teak are significantly higher than the conservative $3.75 per board foot beginning price for adult teak in our projections.

Note: To calculate the per board foot price, divide the cubic meter prices by 424, the number of board feet in a cubic meter. 

    We thank you very much for your interest in Tropical American Tree Farms™.

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