Scibois deal no panacea for JES's troubles

IS IT for real this time?

Many in the market are now wondering just that, after Chinese shipbuilder JES International made a U-turn on an earlier mining investment, and decided that it might have better luck with a forestry business.

The loss-making firm on April 8 announced that it was acquiring a controlling stake in Scibois Co Limited, which indirectly owns a licence to harvest 229,400 hectares of forest area in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

JES will pay the current owners - father-and-son pair Yang Shushan a…