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State Forests Sold - Coillte
- 09 April 2012
The sale of State forests is not new to Ireland, albeit small in area. Coillte has sold forests and land estimated at €217m since the company was established, with record annual sales of €80m during the period 2005 – 2007.
The area sold is not disclosed in Coillte annual reports but records of post 2002 transactions show that sales averaged approximately 400ha annually while earlier sales would have been lower. The total area sold is likely to represent less than 3.5% of the Coillte Estate.
The privatisation of Coilte forest but not the land is also not new. For example a significant proportion of the 15,000ha of forestry owned by the Irish Forest Unit Trust [IforUT] was transferred from the Coillte estate in 1995 at a value of €3.6m.
During 2009, Coillte also disposed of immature forests for €33.8m, realising a profit of €25.4m. However, the sale agreement conferred rights on the purchaser to harvest timber at maturity but Coillte retained the rights to the land.
Source: Irish Farmer’s Journal - State Forests Sold
