Trading

Precious Woods Trading – sales in logs and sawn timber from Europe increased by about 6 %

Trading in logs and sawn timber from Europe complements the current product range of Precious Woods and expands our knowledge in the sales and procurement market. It supplements our core business, which consists in the processing and trading of tropical sawn timber from Brazil and Gabon.

Net sales from the trading business in the 2018 reporting year amounted to EUR 4.7 million, corresponding to an increase of 5.6 % over the previous year (2017: EUR 4.4 million).

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to EUR 0.4 million. The EBITDA margin was 9.3 % (previous year: 11.3 %).

For Precious Woods, trading activities in Europe are strategically important, because this activity secures expertise in the sales and procurement market and creates synergies with our other business areas in production. The challenge will be to apply the insights specifically to our operations in Africa and Brazil and to use them for the benefit of our customers. In future, the range of products will be supplemented by the sale of tropical timber from other FSC-certified operations in Central and South America. Some of these projects are carried out by local communities, in which cooperation with the environmental organization Rainforest Alliance is sought or already in the implementation phase.