A Log of Teak; at Rs 13.25 lac!

Nilambur: The legendary Nilambur teak is still shining. The pride of northern Kerala's timber products, and also the much sought after grade for classy furniture and majestic portals, teak is still the leader among timber in this part of the country.

In the government auction held on Wednesday at the Forest Department's designated point, at Nedumkayam Timber Sales Depot, a single log fetched a record price of 13.25 lac rupees. The auction was held online. The successful bidder was Thelakkad Sakeer from Edavanna, and proprietor of Ceeyar Timbers.

The purchased log is from a tree planted in 1909 in the teak plantation during the British regime, i.e. 109 years old. It measures 7.15 meters in length and 225 cm in diameter. It belongs to the type used for export, called C Export timber. Usually the logs put up for auction are those from plantation protected for research, but get uprooted by wind or get dry, and this is from one such tree. In auction this time, 31 cubic meters of such log were placed for auction, out of which 24 cubic meter got sold.

Range Offier of Nedunkayam Depot, B. Shyamaladas informed 'Madhyamam' that this is an all-time record price for any single log. He also said that type usually B logs used to fetch high price.