Most Expensive Wood

While not yet on the endangered species list, the African Blackwood—or Mpingo, as the natives of Tanzania call it—is considered a threatened species. It is also the most expensive tree in the world.

Mpingo once grew in southern Ethiopia and Kenya, but can now only be found in Tanzania and northern Mozambique. It is a slow-growing tree that survives on little water, doesn’t compete with corn, coffee or bananas and even fixes nitrogen in soil.

A clarinet, sold by Musik Productiv, made of African Blackwood

African Blackwood is harvested for the dense hardwood it yields. The wood, once considered ebony, is primarily valued for use in woodwind instruments. The unsustainability of its harvesting can be attributed to both the tree’s 60-year maturation and the smugglers who illegally transport the wood into Kenya.

The world’s most expensive wood commands a price commensurate with its utility and rarity—$25,000 per cubic meter.

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