Two companies, based in Galway and Cork, have joined forces to create an auction platform for buying and selling forests and will host an online forestry auction next month.

Treemetrics, the forestry software company and MaryEye, which operates in over 60 marts in Ireland and Britain facilitating the sale of livestock, land and machinery, have teamed up for the venture.

Forest Bidder is launching the first live auction online on May 28, with seven forests up for sale in Ireland, with an estimated value of €6 million.

The co-founder have said that the idea came about in early 2020 when it was approached by a forest owner in Munster. The owner had been offered €170,000 to sell the trees and land.

Treemetrics subsequently valued the forest at just over €800,000. 

Wider market through online forestry auction

Enda Keane of Treemetrics said: “We realised that this was a buyers’ market where a lot of owners had very little knowledge. Apart from knowing the value of their crop, the owners need to place the forests for sale in a marketplace that ensures a wider audience of local and international buyers.”

The co-founders say they developed the platform to ensure a “fair and transparent global marketplace for timber”.

“Trees play a huge role in combating climate change, with carbon credits now in the marketplace within the US, France and UK. Forestry is becoming valued as a true commodity and asset to the environment and within the international economies.

“With trees and forests now earning carbon credits, forests can be in a growth period for longer and there is a greater trust in people investing,” Enda added.

“The planet needs more wood and trees. True evaluations of the forestry offering will mean that people can do better business together, including the forestry land owners, the growers and the saw mills. It will be a competitive marketplace.”

‘Outdated’ modes of selling

The organisers of the online forestry auction have said that forest owners globally are crying out for more transparency during forest sales and that current methods are “antiquated with private owners receiving sealed bids”.

There are an estimated 16 million private owners in the EU with many owners having moved to towns and cities and have lost connection to the forest, according to the co-founders.

“Many people are interested in forest ownership and the site will create greater awareness of the opportunities. We plan to further expand the marketplace with the planned sale of a larger €7 million forest asset in Europe in the coming weeks,” Enda continued.

“Forest ownership has many tax incentives to Irish and international investors. The incentives are available to both private investors and companies.”

Forest Bidder is a launching the auction next month with seven forests up for auction: four in the midlands, two in Donegal and one in Kerry.