Foreign Kings Of Forests Have Romania On Their Radar

05.19.2011 ZF English

The five biggest foreign forest owners have come to own over 80,000 hectares in Romania, according to ZF estimations based on data provided by Zoltan Kosy, country manager with Tornator, one of the top five players. Their plans won't stop here.

Scolopax, Cascade Empire, Tornator, Silvirom Timber and Greengold are the foreign company that own the largest forest areas in Romania; this is the first such ranking made public so far.

"The presented data are estimates. The situation is changing almost weekly," said Zoltan Kosy, country manager of Tornator, a Finnish group that owns about 12,000 hectares of forest. He provided the data at the end of April.

The foreigners own the forests through locally-registered companies.

Forest investments are considered safe particularly during crisis periods since there are fewer premises for a price decline. Another reason behind the decision to invest is that the properties can be sold after a while, during which revenues can be derived from logging and selling wood.

According to ZF calculations, the average price per hectare of forest stands at between EUR2,000 and 4,000, so that the over 80,000 hectares of forests can be valued at more than EUR240 million.