A 114-year-old teak tree planted by the British at the Nilambur teak plantation fetched a record price of close to ₹40 lakh at an auction held in Kerala last month.
“Even though we expected a high price, we didn’t expect that the teak would fetch such a record price,” said Nedumkayam Forest Depot officer Shereef P to South First about the auction held on 10 February.
The tree, planted in 1909, was collected by the forest department after it dried up and fell on its own in the preservation plot, a miniature nature reserve that the Kerala forest department takes care of.
According to the officials, the teak trees in the preservation plots are collected only after they fall on their own.
It was put up for auction at the Nedumkayam Forest Depot and was won, in a tightly contested bidding war, by Vrindavan Timbers owner, Ajeesh Kumar for the final price of ₹39.25 lakh on 10 February.
The Nilambur teak wood, which was eight cubic metres in volume, was auctioned in three pieces.
The main piece, which measured more than three metres in length, fetched ₹23 lakh and the remaining two pieces of the same tree went for ₹11 lakh and ₹5.25 lakh, respectively.
Also read: The threatened tree species of Anamalai Hills
British and the Nilambur teak
The teak plantation in Nilambur of the Malappuram district in Kerala was formed in the 1840s with HV Conolly, an East India Company official, starting the planting in 1846. The area, which is currently 2.31 hectares, was named after him.
The plantation is believed to be the first in the world. The durability and quality have given the teak a good reputation in the timber market.
The Nilambur plantation also houses the biggest-planted teak in the world, which is around 48 metres in length according to the authorities.
During the colonial period, the Britishers were impressed with the superior quality of the teak.
The teak logs were exported to different parts of India and abroad. They were also exported directly to London and sold at high prices.
In fact, the Nilambur-Shoranur railway line in Kerala was also laid for transporting these teak logs.
However, there is no standard rate for the teak as the price is determined by several factors including age, quality and especially the ‘Nilambur’ brand.
According to some reports, the Nilambur teak wood is being used in the interiors of the cars of the British car maker Rolls-Royce. However, the manager of the Hyderabad dealership of the Rolls-Royce denied it and told South First that it was not being used in its cars.
Also read: Why did Mahabali frog not get the tag of the official amphibian of Kerala?
‘Highly sought-after teak’
“The Nilambur teak is one of the most sought-after varieties of teak in the world. It is because of some of its unique characteristics. The golden colour of the wood, and the unique rings in the wood — annular rings — make it stand out from the rest,” CR Elsy, a retired professor of plant breeding & genetics at the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), told South First.
“The wood is naturally resistant to pests like termites and according to some, it is usually water resistant but this is not scientifically proven. The teak can also be distinguished by its straight log, which is rarely found elsewhere,” she added.
According to Shereef, Nilambur teak wood is primarily used for house construction. Around 6,000-metre cube of teak wood is sold every year from the two depots in Nilambur with the majority of the bidders coming from various parts of the south Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, he added.
Nilambur teak museum
The Nilambur plantation also houses a teak museum.
The Nilambur teak museum was established in 1995 to educate visitors about the various aspects of teak — history, cultivation, utilisation, management, morphology, harvesting, physical disorders of teak, etc.
The Nilambur teak museum is located within the campus of the sub-centre of Kerala Forest Research Institute there.
Also read: Story of the climate-resilient Pokkali rice
GI tag for Nilambur teak
In the last week of 2017, the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) received approval for the GI tag for Nilambur teak from the GI Registry in Chennai.
It was achieved after constant efforts by the Nilambur Teak Heritage Society, the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), and the forest department in collaboration with the KAU.
“The KAU worked towards obtaining the GI tag for Nilambur teak. For products like Marayoor jaggery, the GI tag helped in increasing market demand. But for this, the tag was needed not to increase the market demand but for checking the fake products in the name of Nilambur teak. Market demand for it is always there,” CR Elsy, also the former convener of the Intellectual Property Rights Cell of KAU, told South First.
A GI tag or Geographical Indication tag is a property right given to products originating from specific geographical areas, to indicate that it has some special characteristics.
According to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), if a product is originating from a member nation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) “where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin”, it can be given the GI tag.
When asked whether there was an increase in the sale or the price of the Nilambur teak wood after the GI tag was obtained, Shereef said that there was a rise. But he added that it was not much compared to other priced woods such as rosewood.
“The sale quantity for a year is pre-decided. The number of trees that are sold through bidding every year is limited to a certain number to maintain the sustainability of the place,” said Shereef.
