A finite resource that continues to increase in value and is at the centre of the new ‘gold rush’.
Kauri timber is between 35,000 and 60,000 years old making it the oldest workable timber in the world. Logs are physically extracted from an area North of New Zealand’s North Island where they were buried underground thousand and thousand years ago.
These forest giants toppled by unknown causes millennia ago have beautiful timber that finds a ready market in China, Italy, Australia, North America and Germany.
An example of the innate value of this timber is this 3 piece table and chair set sold at auction for US$125,000. Built using 45,000 year old Ancient Swamp Kauri this furniture is as unique as it is grand.
One company in the United States offers website sales of the old kauri for up to US$100 a superfoot, which is a section of timber one foot (30.48cm) square and one inch (2.54cm) thick.
Another experienced industry insider scoffs at that pricing and indicated returns to be better in China. But if swamp kauri averaged half that price on the market – US$50 a superfoot – an average kauri tree containing up to 5000 superfeet, or 11.8 m3, would be worth US$250,000. A 40’HC Container carries approx. 25m3, value $530,000, purchasing from the source buyer will pay less than a quarter of this amount.
This is a rare commodity where the known amount is very limited and will soon be in very scarce supply.
Offshore Procurement Specialists present a unique opportunity for furniture makers, wood artisans and investors a like to purchase Ancient Swamp Kauri from the source. Bought from an agent or other sources further up the supply chain the cost will be 3 – 4 times the price offered at this level.
The timber available is very special indeed. Maybe you own antique furniture. Perhaps even a cupboard of a few hundred years old. But sitting at these tables, you are in direct contact with the age of the mammoths, so to speak. And when you receive guests at your table, you will certainly have a unique story to tell. A story that began about 35,000 years ago…