Coen Kerkhoven, managing director and co-owner of Brazilian forestry company Soroteca, shows a black-and-white shot on his phone of a feline beast caught by a camera at night on the teak plantation. "This is quite beautiful though, a result I never expected when we started this: the spotted jaguar on our plantation. Really very rare."

The tapir also feels at home on the plantation.

Together with Rob Nederlof, CEO of Maasstede (of which Soroteca is part), and his sons Robert and Tim, he tells a story that would fit in an adventure novel. About corruption, setbacks, perseverance, a lot of patience and eventually the breakthrough that cuts both ways: the teak trees are ready for the world market and their 7,000-hectare plantation makes a substantial contribution to nature recovery in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.

Robert Nederlof of Maastede: "In terms of hardness, ageing and durability, we fully meet the top quality demanded by yacht builders."

They explain why they did manage to produce teak on a sound commercial basis where investment funds failed. "There are two main things they got wrong," Rob Nederlof explains. "They priced too high a return to shareholders and they had thought they could make money sooner. We and our staff, 100 people, do everything ourselves. We have owned the plantation for 22 years and have the patience to wait for returns based on responsible forest management."

Soroteca

Soroteca's ecological wood has the future precisely because of its sustainable origins. The origin of the wood is clear ('we planted every tree ourselves') and Soroteca holds the FSC® label (FSC-C169924), which indicates that the company adheres to the Brazilian government's strict rules.

Teak trees

Among other things, it prescribes that half of new plantings be made up of indigenous crops. An additional factor of importance is that Myanmar, the main exporting country of teak, is out of favour because of the military regime that has regained power AND the area of teak trees there is depleting.

The 7,000-hectare plantation is making a substantial contribution to nature restoration in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.

As a result, Soroteca's prospects are extremely favourable. Especially in the luxury segment of the market there are great opportunities. "In terms of hardness, ageing and durability, we fully meet the top quality required by yacht builders," explains Robert Nederlof, "but our teak is also suitable for terraces and interiors, for example. Yacht building is ideally served by forestry companies that, like Soroteca, have enough tensile strength to keep the trees standing for a long time. Because older, thicker trees yield wider boards with a nice, long straight grain. Exactly the quality that yacht builders demand."

Soroteca teak, for example, is also suitable for terraces.

Maasstede stresses that Soroteca's sustainable practices do not stand in the way of commercial operations, but rather add value. Hence, the plantation will be greatly expanded in the coming years.

Brazil

Coen Kerkhoven: "The CO₂-take-up of our trees is so great, it already represents millions. Being able to demonstrate sustainability is also valuable in today's world. Biodiversity is just géld. That is our message: commerce and nature restoration can very well go hand in hand. When we first came to our current location in Brazil, it was so-called 'degraded land': former forest plots once cleared for cattle breeding, among other things."

"So we didn't cut anything for our plantations, quite the contrary. We have planted those empty fields fiftyfifty with indigenous vegetation and teak trees. You see that the jungle is slowly but surely invading our plantations. The original fauna and flora are returning. Indigenous species are already using the plantation as a link from one piece of jungle to the next. We are increasing their habitat. This is another reason why Soroteca teak is worth more."

www.soroteca.com