The New York Times has an article today about the prevalence of timber threat in the U.S. The article quotes, "The total value of the American log-export market has more than doubled since 2000, industry experts said, and it continues to grow."
This growth, in turn, is encouraging a new breed of tree hugger -- thieves who chop down timber illegally. It's not as severe as tree cribbing in countries like Indonesia and Brazil facing huge deforestation.
Historically, large investment funds like the Harvard Endowment have made large investments into timber (legally). In 2004, Harvard purchased a 468,000-acre New Zealand forest -- then estimated to be worth $540 million.
Buying timber may offer low correlation to traditional asset classes. In addition, there may be a global supply and demand imbalance based on the fact that world wood consumption is expected to surge by over 60% over the next 25 years, according to the U.N. Food and and Agriculture Organization.
Lucky for us, we now have the Claymore/Clear Global Timber Index ETF (AMEX: CUT) to help us play like the big boys do. This ETF is "designed to track the performance of common stocks of global timber companies. The universe of eligible securities includes firms that own or lease forested land and harvest the timber for commercial use and sale of wood-based products, including lumber, pulp or other processed or finished goods such as paper and packaging," according to Claymore.
See the CUT Investment Guide and the CUT Prospectus.
Zack Miller is the Managing Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.
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