Skip to content
Jengiexpor S.A.

JENGIEXPOR S.A.

Ecuadorian balsa · Ochroma pyramidale

Quevedo, Los Ríos

The name

Jengiexpor was born with ginger in mind. The land decided otherwise. Today we grow balsa in the same province that, in 1947, gave up the nine logs Thor Heyerdahl took across the Pacific. They came down the Palenque river to Guayaquil, and from there to the world. The crop changed. What we do did not: taking something the world needs out of Los Ríos. That is why the name stays.

The product

Balsa (Ochroma pyramidale)

Balsa is the lightest commercial timber in the world and the benchmark for structural cores: high specific stiffness, good perpendicular compressive strength and predictable behaviour in laminates.

We sell sawn timber. Boards in the sizes agreed with the buyer. We do not run our own kiln, so material is supplied green or air-dried: kiln drying and further processing are on the buyer's side.

Our product

Product
Sawn balsa timber
Sizes
To be agreed with the buyer
Drying
No kiln: green or air-dried
Presentation and packing
Agreed per order
Density and grades
To be characterised at first harvest

Species reference

Published data for Ochroma pyramidale, not measured on our own material. Given for orientation; figures for our lots will be published once we have our own test data.

Air-dry density
≈ 100–200 kg/m³ for commercial timber
Green moisture
Very high; drying required before structural use
Rotation
5 to 6 years in plantation
End uses
Composite cores, marine, model making, insulation
Diagram: log cross-section with its cutting pattern, block formed from edge-glued strips, and the two grain orientations: long grain and end grain.
From log to sheet. Grain orientation decides the use: end grain is what carries compression as a structural core.

Growing and origin

Our own plantation in Quevedo

We grow in Los Ríos province, at the centre of Ecuador's balsa belt. The humid tropical climate of this basin is the reason Ecuadorian balsa is the world benchmark: here the species reaches harvestable size in a short cycle, far below that of any conventional structural timber.

We work from our own plantation, not by buying in from third parties. That allows full traceability from stand to shipment: every lot will be traceable to its plot, its planting date and its felling date.

Plantation

Planted area
15 hectares (first planting)
Rotation
Felling expected between the fifth and sixth year
Estimated output
500 – 1,400 m³ sawn at first harvest (estimate based on sector yields, not a supply commitment)
Location
Quevedo, Los Ríos province, Ecuador
Diagram: balsa growing cycle from planting to the felling window, between the fifth and sixth year, compared with the twenty-five to thirty years of a commercial conifer.
Growing cycle. Balsa reaches harvestable size between the fifth and sixth year, against twenty-five or thirty for a conifer. That is why it is managed as a crop, not as a forest.

Contact

Let's discuss your project

We handle technical enquiries and sample requests from manufacturers, distributors and importers. Write to us stating application, estimated volume and destination.