Growing New Standards for Commercial Forestry

Eswatini’s Montigny Investments continues to lead the way in Africa, and globally, around sustainable forestry, creating value from every part of a tree, and building a culture of excellence for the large local workforce.

As a leading, sustainable source of construction materials and other products, wood is often overlooked. Iron, steel, plastic, and concrete are the modern choice of the builder. Easy, flexible, premade, predrilled, they are mass produced and strong, and therefore in high demand. But wood has always been the cornerstone of strong construction, and importantly it has always been a renewable and organic product.

In southern Africa, large commercial forests are not common and much wood for manufacturing is imported. But in Eswatini, surrounded by South Africa’s Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal as well as Mozambique, forestry is big business. Agriculture is one of the country’s big contributors to GDP and forestry is a big part of this critical sector. The fertile land is fantastic for growing trees, and strong wood goes into construction boards, scaffolding, posts, mining braces, poles, chip boards, timber planks, packaging crates, pulp and biomass, and related products including essential oils.

The industry leader in this space is Montigny Investments. A 100% Eswatini company, Montigny employs thousands of locals and creates many opportunities through its value chain. It manages more than 80,000 ha, with 55,000 under active timber management. The company has eight processing plants for different products, transporting more than one million tons of timber each year.

The group is made up of Montigny Usutu, a large man-made forest estate resource purchased from Sappi in 2014; NHR Investments, the South African trading arm of the business distributing in SA and abroad; TDM, a trading arm responsible for timber products and biomass for export markets; and Swazi Poles, a eucalyptus pole manufacturer with SANS certification.  

At Montigny, the value of wood has never been questioned and its obvious benefits in construction, infrastructure, and a range of other sectors are well-known and well-catered for.

“What makes us stand out from our competitors primarily is the way in which we add value to every part of the tree. We are able to extract and utilise up to 95% of the tree’s value because of the breadth of our markets,” says CEO Andew Le Roux.

STANDING TALL

Today, the company is the largest private, integrated timber company in southern Africa and turns over more than E1 billion. This formidable organisation flies the flag for Eswatini and has, since 1997, grown into a respected corporate citizen.

“We are committed to sustainable, profitable and ethical business practices, that benefit the local economy and add value to the Eswatini Nation,” Montigny states.

“[We have] grown from a small family business into the largest private timber owner-operator in Southern Africa and we service approximately 40% of the regional wet-off-saw timber market, and have diverse timber-trading interests in South Africa, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Japan.

“The Usutu Forest Complex represents one of the largest, continuous man-made forestry estates in the world, with extensive and well-developed infrastructure and the shortest average stump-to-mill distance in the region.”

Sustainability is high on the agenda and was installed by Founder Neal Rijkenberg as an underpinning principle in the business which has been nurtured over the past quarter century.

Land is monitored carefully, fire safety is always advancing, products are cut and transported ethically, and new forest zones are continually planted. Today, Montigny adds value to products locally while creating fuel for local biomass plants.

“We are deeply committed to sustainable forestry. We are careful to protect biodiversity and delicate ecological areas within our forests. As much value as possible is extracted from felled timber, and the remaining waste is used to generate energy,” the company says.

SUSTAINABILITY IS KEY

By utilising sustainable principles, the company is able to maximise all that it works with and that is what makes it an industry leader. Swazi Poles is the perfect example of where the company has adapted to sustainably meet the needs of a market. Demand for overheard line support from SADC nations, as they power up metropolitan and rural areas, has helped this division to thrive.

“We use only the best quality matured gum trees. Pure Eucalyptus Grandis and Grandis Clone in the form of Eucalyptus Grandis x Urophylla. Our timber originates from sustainable forest and we ensure a full grading process as to deliver best quality.

“We offer a full range of building and fencing poles, as well as transmission poles. Our procurement is in line with our orders from our own sustainable Eucalyptis plantations. We have active sales agents in the field that can assist on various levels of requirements as for the construction of shade netting of various agricultural products,” the company says.

By understanding the unique needs of the market in Eswatini and around southern Africa, the company can quickly build relationships and glean knowledge of what is required. This allows for informed planting now, and additional value add on products already heading to mills.

“Montigny owns four sawmills at Bhunya and Nhlangano, one Essential Oil plant, one chipping plant, one chipboard plant and a rented sawmill at Bulembu,” it boasts.

“We take an innovative approach to product development and supply. We actively focus on extracting the maximum value from the timber at our disposal, and have extended our product range accordingly, from standard lumber supply to finished products.

Competitive pricing and our commitment to excellence, in both product quality and service delivery, has seen us establish long lasting relationships with suppliers, service providers and clients around the world. Our customers include the planking industry (for both industrial and fine carpentry use), pallet users, the mining industry, charcoal consumers, paper manufacturers, furniture makers and construction companies.”

By 2050, the demand for wood products will grow by 54%. Global climate targets will be a part of the increase as wood is viewed as a replacement for plastics and demand continues to rise in construction and energy. But forests cannot cope alone – too much is already being lost or logged illegally. Sustainability is the key to the future of the industry, and the most important factor in building a resilient forestry sector globally, to help in the battle against climate change and nature degradation. Montigny is an example to follow and is leading the way in southern Africa when it comes to responsible, sustainable forestry management.