Rosewood prices started to spike with the increase in Chinese millionaires and the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 2011, EIA investigators witnessed a rosewood bed for sale in China for one million dollars. Since then black market prices have rocketed, making Siam rosewood more valuable than gold.

Thai media reports continue to show rosewood arrests daily. However, the arrests always feature poor Thai or Cambodian farmers. No-one important is ever arrested. Depending on who  you talk to, there are between 600 to 1,200 seized shipping containers full of rosewood stored at Thai ports. With rosewood  reaching prices of US$50,000 per cubic metre and higher, there  could be more than US$1 billion in seizures over the past six
years.

Thai Rangers on patrol examine rosewood trees cut by smugglers in a protected area along the Cambodian Border (c) Roger Arnold

siamese rosewood tree @ roi et province

Dalbergia cochinchinensis,  Siamese Rosewood or Tracwood, (Thai: Phayung) is a species of legume in the Fabaceae family. It is a threatened tree yielding valuable hardwood found in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

PLANTED SIAMESEROSEWOOD -3 YEAR OLD.

F.I.O ROSEWOOD PLANTATION IN THAILAND...GOING GREEN ECONOMY 2014