About what they do?
GG Capital Europe is a trading company, which over the last 10 years has been exporting and trading wood-based commodities to Sweden, Finland, Norway Denmark, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Russia and the Baltic regions. Their business model is simple – they buy from wood suppliers and deliver it to their clients. Why the clients prefer to buy from GG Capital than directly from the suppliers? The clients would have to deal with many different suppliers as opposed to one. Working with only a few suppliers makes it easier and cheaper for clients to manage their supply chain.
They sell firewood (birch and adler wood), wood briquettes and charcoal to retail clients such as Shell, Kanava, K-RAUTA, Motoral, S Group, Motorla, RTV, Coop, Ingarö Fed, Norrort Ved, ICA, Kaminexperten.se, JSP Trading and their network of over 100 end customers. The trade over 23,000 tons per year and add two to three new buyers every season.
Clients include:
S Group (www.s-kanava.fi/web/s/en/s-ryhma-lyhyesti): S Group is a Finnish network of companies operating in the retail and service sectors. It has more than 1,600 outlets in Finland. S Group comprises the cooperatives and SOK Corporation along with its subsidiaries.
RTV (www.rtv.fi): RTV-Yhtymä Oy is a large Finnish family owned company specializing in paints and surface materials such as wood. They are engaged in both retail and wholesale business and are a notable importer of wallpaper, ceramic tiles and floor coverings. RTV-Yhtymä Oy has 31 own stores in 30 different regions and our staff consists of 600 experts and over 500 employees.
Motoral (www.motoral.fi): One of the biggest wholesalers in Finland. Among other things, providing 150 Shell gas stations in Finland with firewood and barbecue charcoal.
Coop (www.coop.se): Sweden's second largest retail chain with 655 stores. Operations also in Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Baltic States.
K-rauta (www.k-rauta.fi): Wholly-owned subsidiary of Finland's largest trading group: Kesko Oyj. Operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Baltic States and Russia.
Why is GG Capital different from other wood suppliers?
Heating takes up a third of household budget in Scandinavian countries. Over 40% of the buildings and homes are heated through firewood or what is also called biomass.
In Norway by 2020 the government wants to ban heating oil which will increase demand for firewood.
Despite the debate over whether burning wood is good, Energy.gov wood or pellets is a source of renewable energy. It is the most commonly used energy source in the world and with increasing energy prices, the demand for wood is rapidly rising.
GG Capital only works with producers that follow sustainable practices and produce high-quality food products.
Dry Wood vs Wet Wood
Five years ago GG Capital have identified a market opportunity – dry wood.
Most wood that is sold is wet. This means people need to purchase firewood in April/May so it dries if they want to heat their houses. If they do not buy in advance and dry the wood, they risk to stay without any source of heating. Over 40% of houses across Europe rely on wood for hearing. This will increase with the EU changes to the climate policies. Today, wood accounts for 47% of renewable energy.
“First, we will always work ONLY with oven dried firewood. To produce oven dried firewood is more expensive and needs more investment. Many producers also do not have firewood as their main product, maybe only as a by-product used in other kind of productions. Therefore, they do not want to invest/can’t afford the infrastructure needed for oven dried firewood. Wet firewood is most of the time produced in big volumes only in April every year and then it dries over the summer until it is sold in the autumn when the new season starts. The risk with this is that if the summer is not dry enough, the firewood can be mouldy. Also, because of the bigger volumes when producing wet, there is often warehouse damage. Oven dried firewood can be produced anytime throughout the year and the quality can be controlled each time it is being produced. We will never be the cheapest seller of firewood in the market, but we will always deliver highest premium quality.
Today, clients we work with demand higher quality. Therefore, the quality demand on our suppliers is stringent. Before we accept a new producer, we make site visits to inspect that they can meet our quality demands and that the produced firewood is of premium quality. For example: We have now met and made site visits with 9 potential new producers of firewood in Russia (Petroskov and St Petersburg). Only 3 of them have met our high quality demands and we will therefore work only with them.”
SWAN Ecolable: GG Capital only works with charcoal suppliers that have SWAN ecolabel.
The Swan (https://www.svanen.se/en/) has been around since 1989 and is the Nordic region's official eco-label, which in Sweden is managed by Ecolabeling Sverige AB on behalf of the government. They review the environmental impact of goods and services throughout the entire life cycle from raw material to waste and place demands on function and quality. Today, 63 different groups of goods and services can be Nordic Ecolabelled.
“The Swan certificate is only related to our charcoal business. Most of our retail clients in Scandinavia, demand the charcoal to be SWAN certified.
The reason for this, is that there has been a lot of bad quality charcoal coming onto the market, not from the country where the supplier claims it to be produced. For example: Bad charcoal bought in South Africa is then sent to Poland or Ukraine to be repacked. Then, when sold to Scandinavia, it says “charcoal from Poland”. There has been a lot of media coverage about this.
This step up from buyers in quality demand and request for the Swan certificate is only good news for us. It goes exactly hand in hand with our quality strategy and how we want to be perceived in the market.”
GG Capital offers 12-month Fixed Income plan
As opposed to many investment products, the 12-month Firewood Plan is based on real assets and trade. The funds raised are used only to purchase wood products not on operating costs or other expenses. The fixed income plan works similarly to a bond/loan. Under the plan, you provide funding in a form of a bond/loan and receive the interest payments every three months directly to your account.
Over the last few years our clients have been very happy with the plan for two reasons:
They get regular income on their savings; and
It is a very short-term plan, which after 12 months they can redeem their capital or leave it working for another 12-month period
Contact us to receive the factsheet at info@crewinvest.net
“I have this plan since 2017. I am very pleased with my Firewood Plan. All payments have been on time. I have been discussing this with my colleagues. I look forward to continuing my investments with you.” Dughall MacLaughlainn, ship captain
Contact us at info@crewinvest.net to receive the factsheet about the plan.
Who is Crewinvest? Crewinvest are simply the introducing brokers who recommend selected investments, savings and retirement products available. We have no access to your funds and do not charge any management fees. All contracts and funds are directly signed and sent to the providing companies.