The Plantation Capital Group expands into Africa
Global plantation giant, Plantation Capital – a group of associated companies that includes the award-winning Asia Plantation Capital – has now widened its global corporate presence to include Africa Plantation Capital in Kenya, and America Plantation Capital in Florida, USA.
This new expansion is to facilitate the group’s major investment into a forestry plantation sector that could be crucial in meeting the challenges currently faced by the global timber and biomass industries.
Bamboo has been identified as one of the most sustainable species in the world today, and presents a wide range of potentially lucrative commercial opportunities. The company has been developing commercial bamboo plantations in Thailand for several years, and has been managing them on behalf of private clients, along with its own inventory.
Established initially for the production of bamboo shoots for the food industry in Asia, the company has invested heavily in research and development, ultimately discovering multiple new (and in some cases groundbreaking) end uses for bamboo pulp and fibre.
Working with experts in the industry, such as Dr N Barathi at Growmore Bio-Tech in India, and Dr John Woods (a pre-eminent scientist in the micro-propagation of elite bamboo species), along with leading academics from Thailand’s top universities, Asia Plantation Capital now believes that it has developed an unrivalled husbandry programme for commercial bamboo plantations that includes multiple, fully vertically integrated end products. This embraces the abiding ethos of Asia Plantation Capital and its associated companies, and takes in the full ‘from Soil to Oil to You’ story.
Bamboo has been described as the ‘miracle crop’, and the Plantation Capital Group intends to follow its award-winning success in other plantation sectors, such as agarwood, by developing the commercial prospects and maximising the potential of the global bamboo industry. Bamboo is widely considered to be part of the solution to numerous environmental issues, and has, to date, been commercialised on a very small scale.
“Bamboo has been a subject that has fascinated us at Plantation capital for many years,” said Gary Crates, CEO, The APC Group, Geneva. “Not only because of its never ending and growing list of end commercial uses, but also for what it brings to the table in terms of the environment. It’s the fastest growing plant on the planet – able to reach commercial viability as a food source in less than a year – and is a wonderful alternative to the type of timber and biomass that usually takes between 20 and 50 years to grow and reach maturity. Bamboo also releases more oxygen into the atmosphere than any other plant species, given the timescale.”
Crates continued, “Its description as the ‘miracle plant’ is appropriate, in my opinion. We still needed to spend years researching and testing the species, to prove that it would work from a commercial aspect and on a commercial scale. The next, logical step was to develop large scale sustainable plantations that can produce an extraordinary range of end products.”
“We’ve done much the same with other species, and we believe that we have now developed an unbeatable business model for bamboo that fulfils all the criteria that we look for when we invest heavily in a sector. The only thing slowing us down,” Crates concludes, “is the multitude of end uses to which bamboo can be put. Food, biomass, charcoal, engineered construction boards, bio char, activated carbon, paper, luxury fabrics, tissue paper, flooring, kitchen and home appliances, bicycles, even luggage; these are just off the top of my head. The last three years spent evaluating the potential of bamboo and turning the remarkable plant into a commercial reality has been a fascinating and rewarding period for me.”
One of the biggest challenges for the Asia Plantation Capital team in its quest to secure a viable, commercial future for bamboo, has been to establish the best and most secure regions in which to develop and operate large scale plantations. Accessibility to important markets has been key, while soil and climatic conditions are crucial.
Kenya, with its near perfect climate, rich agricultural land and established agricultural industry – not to mention the excellent logistical infrastructure – was the perfect choice.
The group has now established Africa Plantation Capital, and secured the purchase of 1,000 acres of freehold land in Kenya’s prime crop-growing belt, with a further option on 4,000 acres.
“We have been involved in various agricultural projects in Africa for a number of years,” said Crates, “but this is the first time we have actually invested in our own land. We are very excited to be developing the sustainable bamboo industry in Africa, starting our operations in Kenya under Africa Plantation Capital, and we see huge potential for the country and the continent. This venture represents an initial investment into Kenya of around US$30 million in the first 1,000 acres and its associated infrastructure.”
In Florida, USA, the group has owned land since 2010, specifically for the development of current pine plantations into commercial bamboo plantations, to create a home-grown bamboo industry serving US markets. The USA is currently the world’s largest consumer of tropical timbers and bamboo products.
Robert Timmermans, APC’s Project Director, USA, said, “It’s been five years, and we’ve spent millions in research and development, but we believe that the time is now right to establish a fully-fledged commercial scale bamboo operation. The USA now has the depth of expertise and the relevant technologies required to transform the bamboo industry, and it will enable us to meet some of the major environmental challenges that the global demand for biomass and clean energy has already created in many US states.”
Timmermans continued, “Groups such as Southern Bamboo and Scrimtec Systems, and individuals such as Dr John Woods and many others, have been pioneering and leading the way in the bamboo industry. They have perceived its potential for many years, as well as its many uses, from toilet paper for Procter & Gamble, to engineered structural construction beams to replace steel, all the way through to luxury fabrics for some of the world’s leading brands, and even the charcoal we grill our steaks on. Who would have believed that all these end products could come from just one home-grown sustainable plant?”
“The federal and state governments offer numerous support programmes and concessions to help stimulate and develop new industry, under the ‘special economic regions’ programme,” Timmermans concluded. “These attract significant foreign investment. Logistically speaking the USA and Jacksonville, Florida in particular – a major transit port, and formerly the centre of one the world’s largest timber industries – was an opportunity that we at Plantation Capital could not ignore.”
With a global plantation footprint now covering Asia, Africa and the United States of America, it’s clear that the Plantation Capital Group and its local companies (Asia Plantation Capital, Africa Plantation Capital and America Plantation Capital) are firmly establishing themselves as major players in the industry. The group is now all set to dominate the bamboo industry as a whole, and take its place as a pre-eminent vertically integrated grower, manufacturer and distributor of bamboo end products.
