An official said the increase applied to all concessionaires engaged in the extraction of commercial hardwood such as teak, mukwa and rosewood, and would raise the price per cubic metre paid by the Indigenous Hardwood Timber Association from US$50,000 to US$68,000.
A spokesperson said the extra money would be used to better manage the vast areas of forest. Zimbabwe has stocks of hardwood in Matabeleland North and the Midlands provinces and processed timber finds a market locally, in the southern African region and Europe.
The spokesperson said: “This marginal increment in timber royalties alone will not push hardwood timber products way out of reach of both new and traditional customers.”
