The lots auctioned by Agrupación Marjal were sold for more than 500,000 euros, at an average price of 92.5 euros per cubic meter.

PEFC certification guarantees that the plantations have been managed in accordance with sustainability criteria and strict environmental requirements.

Grenada, November 8, 2024

On November 5, the second timber auction of the Agrupación de Productores Marjal Chopo took place before a notary, in which 9 lots were awarded out of the 17 offered, representing 5,584.575 cubic meters of timber sold out of 10,087.195 cubic meters offered, 55.3%. With an average price of 92.5 euros/m3, the Association closed this auction with total sales of 517,606.83 euros. The wood auctioned came from poplar groves in Fuente Vaqueros, Santa Fe and Láchar.

Patricia Gómez Agrela, promoter of the Grouping and manager of the Confederation of Organizations of Foresters of Spain (COSE), has valued these data very positively. “The awarding of more than half of the lots is considered a great success, since it consolidates this auction sales formula promoted by the Marjal Group. The poplar wood market in Granada and Andalusia needs to be updated and this requires a ‘modeling’ towards market structures that protect all the links in the poplar value chain”.

“The success of this joint harvesting formula in the private forestry sector lies in the transparency, guarantee and security for the owner, which translates into a clear benefit. The growers value positively the service provided by the Association, both in the technical advice received during the whole process of appraisal, sale and harvesting, as well as the security of a correct execution of the work and the compliance with the established deadlines. We expect to see an increase in sales every year due to the confidence and the advantages that the timber industry also finds in this process,” said the COSE manager.

Gómez Agrela stressed that “the impulse that this crop is receiving from both the administration and various institutions, due to its high strategic value for the achievement of major economic, social and especially environmental objectives, requires a decisive sectoral response through the commitment to the creation of a new framework for the marketing of poplar wood. Promoting forestry aimed at achieving a differential product and guaranteeing security of supply requires that loggers and industry understand that it is necessary to participate in strengthening mechanisms that ensure transparency and fair trade”.

 

Agrupación Marjal, which brings together one hundred poplar producers, mostly from the province of Granada, with more than 1,400 hectares under cultivation, had already held an auction in October 2022, but on this occasion all the timber for sale has received PEFC certification, which guarantees compliance with good environmental and management practices in poplar cultivation. To obtain this certification, the plantations have undergone verification by an independent auditor who guarantees that they have been managed on the basis of a forest management plan according to a forestry itinerary with strict environmental and production sustainability criteria.

“This certification guarantees, for example, that the crops do not use products that damage the soil or water, or that the soil between the poplars is not broken excessively, but that a vegetation cover is preserved that protects it from erosion, facilitates the infiltration of water and air into the subsoil and favors the presence of pollinating insects, without forgetting that the forestry management of poplar groves must evolve towards the production of quality wood”, explained Gómez Agrela.

Putting certified wood on the market responds to the industry’s demand to offer sustainable and ecological products to consumers, who are increasingly aware of the environment, guaranteeing that they are not contributing to the deforestation of the planet.

LIFE Wood for Future Project

The Agrupación Marjal was established in May 2022 in the framework of LIFE Wood for Future, a project funded by the LIFE program of the European Union for the mitigation of climate change which includes the University of Granada, COSE and the Provincial Council, among other partners. The coordinator of LIFE Wood for the Future, Antolino Gallego, has expressed his satisfaction at the celebration of this auction, since the placing on the market of poplar wood with PEFC certification was one of the objectives of the project, which began in 2021 and concludes in 2025.