UPDATE 1-Sino-Forest inks 3-year tree-acquisition deal

* Says to buy 15 mln to 18 mln cubic mtrs of wood fibre

* To pay up to 300 yuans per cubic meter

* Shares fall as much as 3 pct

June 11 (Reuters) - Sino-Forest Corp (TRE.TO), a commercial forest plantation operator, said it agreed with China's Jiangxi Zhonggan Industrial Development Co Ltd to buy pine and Chinese fir plantation forests from the Jiangxi province in China for three years.

Under the master agreement, Sino-Panel will acquire 15 million to 18 million cubic metres of wood fibre during the three-year period, with a price of not more than 300 yuans ($43.9) per cubic meter.

Jiangxi Zhonggan will act as the authorized agent for the original plantation rights holders, the company said.

The company said its Sino-Panel (China) Investments Ltd unit, which signed the deal, will also have the rights to lease the underlying plantation land at 450 yuans per hectare annually for 30 years from the time of harvest.

The agreement is Sino-Forest's fifth, long-term, fibre purchase agreement during the past two years. These agreements cover a total plantation area of over one million hectares in five of China's most densely forested provinces, it said.

The Canadian forestry plantation company, which has major operations in China, had recently closed a C$380 million ($344.2 million) bought deal offering, which will fund this purchase, it said.

Sino-Forest shares were down 6 Canadian cents at C$13.35 in morning trade Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They touched a low of C$13.02 in early trade. ($1=1.104 Canadian Dollar) ($1=6.834 Yuan) (Reporting by Swaha Sircar in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)