Teak Investments: Profitable Ventures With Residency In Costa Rica And Panama
Consider growing teak trees in Panama and Costa Rica where you can earn tax free returns on your investment and on along with residency in either or both countries.
Teak (Tectona grandis) is a tropical hardwood tree species that is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that can grow up to 120 feet tall with a large crown of deciduous leaves.
Teak wood is also called “boat wood” because of its durability, strength, attractive grain patterns, and its natural resistance to decay, moisture, and insect damage.
Due to their propensity to grow tall, straight trunks, mahogany is considered to be the perfect plantation tree.
They are listed as a vulnerable species due to habitat loss and overexploitation. In some regions, illegal trade in teak wood have contributed to deforestation and environmental degradation.
The natural habitat of woodlands in India, Indonesia, Thailand, and other parts of Southeast Asia grow teak wood. Due to shortages in this valuable wood, other countries, including Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, are attempting to grow teak wood in managed plantations.
Teak is extremely important in the wood export market, so it is vital that natural teak forests and managed plantations are sustainably managed to ensure supply, as well as the health of the surrounding ecosystem.
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Teak Trees, Tropical Birch, Jati Genjah Fast Growing Hybrid Teak Video
Teak Wood
Teak trees are indigenous to Southeast Asia. Most Teakwood comes from managed plantations in Indonesia, India, Myanmar, Philippines, and Malaysia. Indonesia Teak is considered the highest quality of Teakwood in the world due to its texture, color and hardness. Teak trees are classified as a tropical birch, dropping its leaves in the dry season like an American birch would in the fall. Teak trees grow relatively quickly in native tropical rain forests reaching a maximum height of 150 feet in just 50 years. Plantation Teak trees are harvested in 20-year cycles. Tree Plantation investment Teak grow a new “fast growing Teak hybrid” called Jati Genjah. For the investor, growing Teakwood in a tax-free investment environment can be extremely profitable.
Teak Wood Properties
Teakwood is valued for strength and its resin, which is water resistant. This water-resistant quality makes Teakwood invaluable for boat manufacture where it is used for decking, trim, and railings. Teak tree resin also protects the tree from insects while it grows in the plantation.
Like black locust trees in North America, Teak trees have been used in the tropics for fence posts, railway ties and building foundations because of its water repellent qualities and resistance to rot. Tree experts refer to Teak as the perfect wood because it combines the strength of oak and the water repellent properties of western red cedar with the rot resistance of black locust. Teakwood is revered as a stable woodworking product, easy to turn and shape into furniture and ornamental designs.
Teak Seed
A Teak tree is grown mainly from seed and pretreatment is required to overcome dormancy, which involves alternate wetting and drying of the seed. One hundred seeds at a time are soaked in a gallon of water overnight and then spread to dry in the sun for a day. This is repeated for 2 weeks, before the seeds are sown in a shallow germination bed of coarse peat covered with sand where ehe seeds will germinate in 10 days.
The following comments were collected from a national wood products discussion forum using teak wood in the United States and Canada.
Comment from contributor A:
I have been used to working with local hardwoods like oak and walnut but thought I would try my luck with teak. Holy crap is this stuff expensive. My local supplier didn’t have it in stock and ordered it in from a tropical wood broker out of Florida. I was used to paying between $2 for oak and $4 per BF for walnut but $22 – wow! Beautiful stuff though, once I got the right tooling knives, it turned nicely and polished up great. Worth every penny once I finished up my project. I’ll have to save up my money to use it again, though.
Comment from contributor B:
As beautiful as teak is it is hard to drill and glue. Once it’s down though, it’s fantastic. I found using concrete drill bits great for drilling holes in dry teak boards. A good diamond tip or carbide might work good too. The drilling was needed for setting brass screws to my ribbed decking. The original teakwood decking was probably 60 years old, not worth salvaging but it seemed to burn forever in the fireplace over the winter. My wife commented that it lasted longer than the apple wood from our orchard. Good heat too. Of course, I wouldn’t suggest burning teak in the fireplace under normal circumstances – it’s too nice a wood and too damn expensive.
Comment from contributor C:
I was fortunate to travel to Indonesia as a missionary back in the sixties – that was when there were still old teak forests scattered across the country. Some of these trees were massive. I remember one tree that had to be 200 feet tall and 20 feet across at the bottom. It reminded me of the trees in Redwood National Forest in California. Sadly, I would think that tree and most of the other older ones have been cut down. When I left in 1969, there was talk of the government stepping in to control the logging and start replanting programs. I wonder how all that turned out?
Teak Tree Oil
Second stream revenue can be generated from the collection of teak leaves and the manufacture of teak tree oil.
Teak tree oil is a natural oil that is extracted from the seeds of the teak tree. The oil is used in traditional medicine and by the cosmetic industry to manufacture personal care products.
Teak tree oil is rich in antioxidants and contains high levels of oleic acid. The acid is a type of monounsaturated fatty acid that is known to be beneficial to human health. Other fatty acids are present in oleic acid, including linoleic acid and palmitic acid, which help to nourish and moisturize the skin.
Teak tree oil is also used in aromatherapy and massage therapy. In diluted form it makes a great carrier oil. Teak oil products can be found in natural soaps, shampoos, and face creams.
Teak Tree Investments
After decades of exploitation, Teak Trees are considered a rare, particularly significantly large trees. Today, fully matured Teak trees only exist in old growth preserves and parks. In Indonesia, the world’s largest supplier of Teak, trees are predominantly grown in protected government managed plantations by one government owned company, Perum Perhutani, however there are other opportunities for investors in other parts of the world to grow Teak.
We have two partnership opportunities available to international investors interested in growing Teakwood. The first opportunity is in Panama, where an investment of $50K ($25K from the partner investor and $25K from the Tree Plantation, the partner company) entitles the investor to residency and tax-free income. The second opportunity to grow Teak trees is in Costa Rica where an investment of $100k ($50K from the partner investor and $50K from the Tree Plantation, the partner company) qualifies an international investor for legal permanent residence status in Costa Rica. This gives the investor all the rights of a Costa Rican citizen, except the right to vote in national elections. By Costa Rican law the owner is exempt of all taxes on property. In addition, the income produced by the sale of the Teak is also free of taxation in Costa Rica.
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Your Perfect Plan B: Panama Residency And Tax Free Profits
Panama has a fast-track residency option for citizens of “friendly nations” — countries with strong diplomatic or economic ties to Panama. This Friendly Nations Visa offers an opportunity to become a permanent resident of Panama for investors and entrepreneurs from selected countries, including the United States, Canada, most of the EU, and some others. Your US$25,000 teak investment qualifies you to apply for this Friendly Nations Visa, one of the easiest residency options available in any country in the world.
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