Country Woods Durban

May 2009

 

Dear Customers, customers to be and fellow woodworkers, 

 

Let’s start off with the good news.  I came across a bundle price list from 2003 recently and was shocked to find that very few prices have increased since then.  In fact prices have gone up, but with the slowing of the industry and the closing of sawmills worldwide, timber supply has exceeded demand (a very rare phenomenon in our industry) and prices on imported timber have softened substantially.  Bad news for the merchants, but good news for our customers.  Added to this good news, we have not received the usual annual increases from our local suppliers either, so all in all there’s a lot to be grateful for.

 

Yes, things have certainly slowed down this year, but it has given us all a chance to revise our situations, cut unnecessary costs and look for new gaps and potential business opportunities in the market.  We have had reports from a few customers saying that despite the slowdown they have just landed their biggest orders ever.  They must be “thinking out of the box” and doing something right.

 

News on our front is that we’ve decided to introduce another new species to our showcase of “the word’s finest hardwoods.”   It is an African timber that comes in virtually any length, width and thickness and can be used for just about any purpose and it is very well priced.  It comes from a small country in Equatorial French Africa called Gabon.  I was fortunate enough to have visited the sawmill before ordering our first container of Okoume and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

 

Firstly, Gabon is one of the few African countries with a conservational head on its government’s shoulders.  President Bongo has declared 11% of his country “National Park” The logging procedures that are put in place are very strict and all endangered species are protected – with heavy fines being imposed on anyone caught extracting forbidden species.   85% of Gabon is tropical rainforest and the country is largely unspoilt.  There is very little infrastructure and industry and the people rely heavily on their wealth of raw materials for survival, but are given free medical care and schooling by the government.   There are very few roads in Gabon, so boats and barges are often the only means of transport through the countries phenomenal network of rivers.  The country’s 2nd biggest port, Port Gentil is only accessible by air and ship.  Oil is the Gabon’s major wealth, but forestry plays a huge part too.  All citizens living in the forests benefit financially from foreigners harvesting the logs in their village concession area and care is taken to make sure that clear felling does not take place as restrictions have been put in place limiting the size of trees being extracted.  This practice of selective logging allows the smaller trees to fill the gaps in the forest canopy left when the bigger ones fall, keeping the natural regeneration process going and making sure that the forest will self sustain for years to come.

 

So if you’re looking for a sustainable, eco-friendly timber that is readily available, stable and easy to work with, why not give Okoume a try?  Its main use is for joinery, but it can be used for furniture, balustrading, flooring, panelling, roof trusses and just about anything you can think of.  Our 1st load arrives in May, come in and get a sample.

 

You may have noticed that our web site has had a facelift.  This is thanks to Grant Ambrosia, our timber salesman / computer wiz.  Please check out www.countrywoods.co.za for our new and improved look.  We have gone into a lot of detail on all our timber stock, showing a variety of photographs, properties, characteristics and uses.  It really is a wealth of valuable information and will wet the appetite of any wood lover.

 

So, that’s the news at Country Woods Durban, we have held prices where possible, got in a new species and have a fresh page on the web site.  

 

Until next time…….

 

Yours in wood

Hans Schneemann