About Melina Hardwood
The average height for an 8 month old Melina tree is over 8 feet. 2 year old trees average 20 feet and 8 year old trees over 73 feet. By year 12 the average height is over 95 feet.
Melina is so highly used in Costa Rica that in 2008 it was used to produce over 5.3 million pallets, a total consumption of 536,624 m3, or 227,528,576 board feet. This number represents 59% of all lumber sourced from forestry plantations that year.
Melina timber sales values
Our projections are based on lumber prices increasing at a rate of 7% per annum. However, between 2005 - 2011, Melina lumber sales values have achieved the following average growth per annum over this period;
Average Growth Across Sector 2005 - 2011
Melina, known as Gmelina Arborea from the family Verbenaceae, is a fast growing forest species that offers a wide range of possibilities for industrial reforestation development, due not only to its fast growth, but also its relative easy management, its versatility, and its physical and mechanical properties.
In its natural distribution Melina grows in habitats that vary from very humid to dry. It is found from Pakistan in the west throughout India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and the southern provinces of China (Yunnan and Kwangsi Chuang) in the East.
By year 3 to 4 years of age, Melina is considered a drought and fire resistant species.
Melina; Historical Data
The first Melina plantation in Costa Rica was established in 1966 in Manila de Siquires (in the Atlantic Zone). The plantation area was 2,000 hectares and the seed used was brought in from 20 different sites where the tree grew naturally, principally in Asia.
It wasn’t until 1986 that Melina was being used in large-scale projects and by 1993 there were 9,479 hectares planted and by 1997 that number had reached 49,275 total hectares planted representing 94% of the total area reforested with this species in Central America.
By 2004, the total area forested with Melina in Costa Rica rose to 65,000 hectares (15% of the world’s total area planted with Melina).
Costa Rica is one the few countries currently using Melina on a large scale as raw material for cut timber, furniture production, plywood, pallets, and treated logs for rustic construction.
Melina is recognised within Costa Rica in a similar way to pine is recognised within the UK, being used as an everyday timber.
Melina is also used to produce wood chips for domestic markets as well as being exported to the United States to be used as pulp for paper making and sawn wood. Melina has been used for many purposes including being sold to the German company Faber Castel, which makes pencils.
Leaves are opposite, deciduous, entire, 10 cm – 20 cm long, 7 cm – 13 cm wide, and have a waxy bloom on the underside. Flowers are numerous, trumpet-shaped, hairy and short-stalked, and a length of 4 cm. The panicle cymes of yellow or brown flowers are 15 cm to 30 cm long, which appear after the leaves drop
