Mizzima

Check out some of the high-class yachts moored in the harbour in Monte Carlo and chances are that the golden wood is teak from the forests of Myanmar.

Two journalists know this all too well. Shirsho Dasgupta of the Miami Herald and Timo Schober, a German-based journalist who works at Papertrail Media have delved deep into the trade that continues to see valuable teak trees felled in the forests of Myanmar and shipped around the world.

Check out the Insight Myanmar podcast where they discuss their investigation into this dark trade:

https://insightmyanmar.org/complete-shows/2023/7/31/episode-182-the-dark...

Following a leak from Myanmar’s tax department which indicated a high volume of teak exports, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) convened a group of 39 media outlets to work together in uncovering where all this teak was going, and if the post-coup US sanctions on Myanmar Timber Enterprises (MTE), the military-linked corporation intimately connected to the teak trade, were being evaded.

This is when Dasgupta and Schober got involved as journalists. 

As they note, during the Colonial period, teak became a highly prized hardwood, particularly sought after by the British Navy. As a result, there was extensive clearcutting of Burma’s vast teak forests. Even so, by the time of Burma’s independence in 1948, forested areas still comprised 70 per cent of the country. 

However, Dasgupta explains how the real decimation of Myanmar’s teak forests began with the rampant crony capitalism that started in the 1990s. As a result, today, just 40 per cent of the country remains forested. Since that time, corruption has been rife, child labour has often been used, and working conditions have been extremely unsafe, with narcotics flowing freely throughout the camps. 

“It's not like things were hunky dory in the past,” Dasgupta explains, even about the period before sanctions when it was possible to obtain legally sourced Burmese teak. Still, it was challenging to determine if the teak being imported met all the requirements of legality. 

During the brief window when the National League for Democracy was in power, attempts were made to introduce transparency and establish a paper trail to document the chain of custody in the timber industry. However, the results were limited due to the ease of forging paper documents. 

“It was still an ongoing process when the coup happened,” Dasgupta says, “changing and reforming an industry which has existed and operated in a certain way for more than 100 years, it takes time.” 

However, the Myanmar military coup in 2021 and the implementation of sanctions by the US, hasn’t actually stopped the international sale of Burmese teak. 

Schober explains how the ultra-rich are driving this illegal trade. “If you're a millionaire, or a billionaire, you want the best [teak], and the best is naturally grown teak.” 

Dasgupta adds that “the demand and the prices is influenced by the fact that very rich people want teak as their furniture, and they want teak as decks on their luxury yachts.” 

The Myanmar junta is not worried. Almost all of the forests are state-owned and the money from the teak trade is funneled through the junta. Check out the figures. A staggering $400 million worth of teak having been exported from Myanmar since the coup, with one-fifth of that figure reaching European and American markets. 

Dasgupta estimates that six million pounds of teak has reached the US alone, valued at $25 million. “We haven't really seen much of an effect,” he notes flatly about US sanctions.

Little doubt then that Myanmar teak continues to turn up in the world’s millionaire playgrounds. 

Check out the Insight Myanmar Podcast here:

https://insightmyanmar.org/complete-shows/2023/7/31/episode-182-the-dark...