Cascade Empire, the local division of the Austrian company Holzindustrie Schweighofer owns 11. 000 hectares on the local market, bought in the last years, estimated at 30 million euros.
Lucian Petre, representant for Cascade Empire declares: „The project is a long term investment, with real-estate values. We want to expand even more, but currently we are involved with consolidating the business”. Although the company has been involved in property sales for several years, Petre states that he did not notive any decrease in price over the last period of time. „Economy books teach two solutions in a crisis period: invest in either gold or properties. And properties are still available for sale, so there is a constant interest”, he added. The medium price per forest paid by the company was 3000 euros/hectar. The last transaction involved a „better forest” which caused the price to reach 3 700 euros/hectar.
The transaction took place in june 2009, and by the end, Cascade Empire had bought 1 915 hactares from one owner alone.
Cascade Empire owns forests in Prahova, Arges, Suceava, Harghita, Covasna, Hunedoara, Valcea. The wood obtain from these locations is sold in various forms by Holzindustrie Schweighofer and rivals Kronospan.
In regard to forest exploitation, Petre states that cuttings cannot exed the growth rhythm/year.
Thus, no more than 7 m3/year can be cut from resinous forests, so the Austrians can only manufacture 77 000 m3/year. „I have planned expoitations of 30 – 40 000 m3/year. The quantity can increase once I have the right infrastructure” says Petre.
According to him, the factories use aproximately 2 million m3/year.
Source: www.wall-street.ro |
