South American Capabilities
South America covers an area of 17,780,000 square kilometres (6,890,000 square miles), or almost 3.5% of the earth's surface. It offers rapid forest growth rates, boasts past success in implementing large-scale plantations and is recognised as having low land and labour costs.
Chilean forests and estates
Chile is a quickly developing country on the Pacific Rim with a well structured and efficient forestry industry. Soils and climate conditions are similar to those found in the Central-Southern regions of Argentina and therefore the same Eucalyptus and Radiata pine species can be grown very successfully in Chile.
Chile has 15.64 million hectares of forestry of which 2.12 million are plantation forests and 13.56 million ha are classed as native forests. Plantation forestry is the dominant source of timber products and around 95% of all timber products exported from Chile come from plantation forests, while the native forests supply local demand for firewood and local construction material. Native forestry can be managed sustainably to produce useful thinning income but at a lower level than returns from plantations.
The liquidity of the woodland assets is good in Chile. There is a strong demand for established woodlands and land for planting trees driven by multinational forestry companies which have their own sawmills and pulp mills and have access to export markets. The international markets for timber and pulp continue to grow with strong demand from China and the Far East.
The Chilean forestry properties offered by Fountains are primarily in the IX and X Regions which contain a well developed forestry industry and infrastructure. (major towns in this area include Valdivia, Puerto Montt, Osorno, Villarica, and Temuco.)
Fountains offer a full investment appraisal and acquisitions service supported by experienced management to ensure maximum return for forestry investors. fountains acts in all circumstances purely on behalf of the investor’s interests.
An investment in South American forestry or estate property offers the following benefits:
- An investment providing rapid growth and relatively low risk
- Diversification from European timber markets
- Recreation and development opportunities on many farms and estates in the Lakes Region of Patagonia eg fishing, hunting, conservation and ornithology
- ‘Wilderness’ environments
To see what properties are available, please browse our property database, selecting the 'S. America' option in the search facility on the left of that page.
Call: 01295 753233
for forest and land management, acquisition and brokerage services and environmental consultancy.
