The Mahesh Group is a leading group of companies dealing in timber products including Logs, Lumber, Core Veeners / Face Veeners, Plywoods and Panel products with a focus on the Indian market. Established as a sole proprietorship in 1952 and incorporated as a private company in 1998, the Group has a more than five decades of experience in the sector and today maintains extensive sawmilling operations, shipping and transport agency in Gujarat. Having grown from a small timber retail business in Haryana into the one of the largest exporter of timber logs to the Indian market from Malaysia, Europe, Myanmar, New Zealand, Vietnam, USA and Canada, the Group today trades over 800,000 cubic meters annually and employs over 1,000 people in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Germany, Belgium and the Middle East. With a vision to be a market-leading trader and distributor of timber products including logs, structural lumber and panel products, the Group’s core values are reflected in every choice that it makes.
Following its incorporation as a private company in 1998, the Group has, in the span of 15 years, achieved several milestones. International expansion was initiated with the establishment of Mahesh Timber Singapore Pte. Ltd. and Amazon Exports Pte. Ltd., which started procurement in Sarawak, Malaysia. In addition, MTSPL Overseas SDN BHD Malaysia was started and an Amazon Representative Office was established in Myanmar. The Group also launched its own shipping operations and procurement of softwood products, including pine and spruce from Europe and New Zealand. In 2011, Amazon Export LLC was incorporated in the U.S. with a view to source pine logs and lumber, and a year later the Group opened its Hamburg office to start their own procurement operations from Middle and Western Europe. With hardwood and softwood distribution offices advantageously spread in the East, West and North Indian market, the Group today is able to meet customer needs in a timely fashion.
A strong international network of suppliers ensures that the Group is able to supply the global requirements of its Indian customers. Working closely with both its clients and suppliers, the Group is always prepared to anticipate their demands and ensure that the right, transparent, and fluent information is communicated to both parties. Through its network of branches in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Germany and India and leveraging its established relationships with suppliers across the globe, it offers a dedicated delivery service and experienced, specialist-trained professionals ready to put forth support, meeting the specific requirements of the customers. Timber Design & Technology takes a closer look at the operations of the Mahesh Group.
Sourcing quality timber from across the globe
Currently, the Mahesh Group sources timber logs and lumber from Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam & PNG, and Pine logs from the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Germany and Belgium. To this end, it has established procurement offices in Sarawak & Sabah in Malaysia, Hanoi in Vietnam and Yangon in Myanmar. Further, the Group is able to offer FSC and PEFC certified sustainable pine timber from its procurement offices in the U.S., Germany and New Zealand to importers and processors in India. Aiming to become a true one-stop shop, the Group has also diversified into other wood and panel products and has been offering a complete range of high quality Plywood, Veneer, Fiberboards to its customers for over a decade.
Hardwood and Softwood sawmills
In order to accommodate smaller runs and large orders of any size and penetrate deeper into the Indian timber industry, the Mahesh Group expanded into hardwood lumber processing. The Group has mills located in all of the regional timber hubs across India with the majority of its operations being focused in Gandhidham ( Kandla / Mundra Ports ) in Gujarat on account of its strategic location as a booming port with a wide network of commercial and industrial customers. At present, the Group is running 20 sawmills with an annual capacity of 160,000 cubic meters where hardwood is sawn and sold. As such, the Group is able to offer lumber in vertical grain, mixed grain, or flat grain either sharpened rough, surfaced, edged, or precision-milled to the exact given specifications of its customers.
The Mahesh Group is also comprehensively involved in sawmilling and retailing of hardwoods and softwoods imported from Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Africa, South America and Singapore. Further, it also has state-of-the-art sawmilling plants and warehouses for storage spread across the booming timber trading zones of India, including Gandhidham, Karnal, Kandla, New Delhi and Punjab. Its softwood business is showing particularly strong growth in sales and the Group is confident of substantial growth in the years to come. With an annual production capability of 160,000 cubic meters of softwood spread across 20 sawmills, the Group ensures that operations are managed and developed by skilled and experienced hands aided by advanced technology. Significantly, its processing plants are benchmarked to their most efficient competitors in the world.
Global reach
With a view to offer value-added services to its customers and remain a step ahead of their competitors, the Mahesh Group has diversified into shipping and currently has an international freight forwarding service, which operates as a logistics and international transport provider. This ability to deliver dependably and consistently is critical to the success of any business, particularly to the Group’s timber business. Customers are therefore able to rely on the Group for efficient and flexible delivery service, which is actually an enhanced logistics operation and more than simply transporting goods from origin to destination. Acting as a complete logistics provider, the Group conducts the operations of its clients as an extension of their companies, participating actively from the planning, to the management of the complete logistics.
Products
The Group exports round logs and sawn timber from across the globe, including Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Russia, PNG, Europe, Africa as well as America. These include a wide range of Asian and Oceanic, Temperate, American as well as African logs such as Meranti, Merbau, Kapur, Alan Batu, Balau, Keriung , Nyatoh, Reask, Selangan, Batu, Pyinkadu, Teak, Radiata Pine, Ash, Beech, Cherry, Chestnut, Larch, Maritime Pine, Pinus Sylvestries, Poplar, Spruce, Sitka Spruce, Balsa, Douglas fir, Greenheart, Purpleheart, Maple, Teada Pine, Red Cedar, Azobe, Mahogany, Okoume, Padouk, Sapelli, Tali, and Wenge etc.
Lumber is supplied either rough or finished. Besides pulpwood, rough lumber is the raw material for furniture-making and other items requiring additional cutting and shaping. It is available in many species, usually hardwoods. Finished lumber is supplied in standard sizes, mostly for the construction industry, primarily softwood from coniferous species including Pine, Fir and Spruce, Cedar, and Hemlock but also some hardwood, for high-grade flooring.
The Group also offers a complete range of high quality plywood and natural Core & Face veneers, which are sourced through its network of branches in Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and India. In addition, the Group also stocks & distributes a wide range of high quality Blockboard, MDF, Particleboard and Doors.
Environmental credentials
As India’s third largest trader and exporter of timber, the Mahesh Group recognizes that it has a significant responsibility to ensure its impact is minimized on the environment at all times. Sourcing timber from certifiable forests across the globe and recycling at every stage in the production process, the Group carefully monitors its environmental performance, whilst also continuously seeking new ways to ensure ever stringent environmental targets can not only be met but also surpassed. Currently, most of the timber is sourced from state government-owned forests and is certified under international Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) agreements and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification scheme (PEFC) agreements. However, the Group does not carry the FSC badge because of the additional costs, which far outweigh the benefits.
The Group also maintains a strong responsibility to protect and conserve the global environment and is strictly against the consumption of endemic plant species. This is an integral part of its corporate and social responsibility to preserve the world forests and promote effective forestry management. All of the Indian and Singapore branches of Mahesh Group have chain-of-custody implemented, independently evaluated and certified, to provide the industrial as well as commercial customer base with environmental assurances. It also maintains a philosophy of continual improvement of its forest practices and manufacturing processes to optimize the use of resources and minimize or eliminate the impact of its operations on the environment.
Future
The future will dictate that the Mahesh Group will have to adopt different strategies to meet the demand in the changed timber business environment of India in light of estimates that the demand for timber is likely to grow from 58 million cubic meters in 2005 to 153 million cubic meters in 2020. Foreseeing this, the Group is already in the process of establishing various plywood factories in many regions whilst also investing into the expansion of existing sawmilling plants with latest machinery. Significantly, the Group is also in the process of opening sawmilling plants in booming places like Myanmar, Middle East, Gabon and elsewhere.
According to the Group, a key part of its future growth will revolve around providing total timber, shipping and real estate solutions to its customers by expanding the presence of the Group in both national and international segments. Possibilities are to be explored for strategic alliances, both for optimal utilization of infrastructure as well as expansion into other segments of the value chain. As such, the Group’s prospects are seen as most healthy and promising and its expansion plans most feasible, as it already enjoys high levels of recognition both domestically and overseas and is well under way in the achievement of its future goals.