home > ARTICLE > Release > [FOCUS News] The pursuit of "agarwood" drives up investment prices; wood crystals are not wood.
[FOCUS News] The pursuit of "agarwood" drives up investment prices; wood crystals are not wood.
Sotheby's and Christie's in the international auction market have held special auctions for agarwood, with the highest record reaching NT$300,000 per gram, more than 100 times the price of gold. After that, more and more people in mainland China have been chasing agarwood investment, pushing the price up several hundred times. It takes 10 years for an agarwood tree to produce any, and the scarcity of agarwood makes it seem like it will continue to lead the way in the investment market.
A recent agarwood appraisal event in Hainan revealed that one-third of the agarwood was counterfeit. A man from Jiangxi brought his treasured agarwood, which he had kept for many years, for authentication, only to be deeply disappointed. The agarwood collector said, "I won't bet on it lightly anymore. This bet was too big, over 300,000 NTD at the time." Buying counterfeit agarwood cost him nearly 1.5 million NTD, finally making him realize that the world of agarwood is very complex, and that most collectors still lack sufficient understanding of it. A collector of agarwood says, "If you choose correctly, you'll buy a good one; if you choose incorrectly, you'll make a mistake." Agarwood is different from sandalwood. It's not a type of wood, but a substance that forms within the agarwood tree. After the tree is damaged by things like lightning strikes, strong winds, or axe blows, special microorganisms invade and infect it, resulting in a natural solidified substance containing fragrance. The natural process of agarwood formation is very long, sometimes taking hundreds or even thousands of years. Incense culture originated in China and has a history of 2,000 years. However, after the Cultural Revolution, incense culture declined in mainland China. But Taiwan continued to preserve it and later revived in mainland China. There are over 2,000 agarwood businesses in Putian, Fujian, making it the world's largest agarwood trading region. This development began in 1995 when Taiwanese people brought agarwood culture to the mainland. Huang Jia'en, an agarwood business owner, said, "A Taiwanese friend brought agarwood to our home, and that's when we first encountered agarwood and commissioned them to process it." A small piece of what looked like rotten wood was worth 200,000 RMB to the Taiwanese, something they simply couldn't imagine at the time. Agarwood business owner Huang Chia-en: "They were willing to pay very high prices for us to do it for them, and we gradually became a major player in this field (agarwood carving)." Later, they discovered that even before the carving was finished, people wanted to buy it at several times the original price, which led to the gradual development of the local agarwood industry. In recent years, the price of agarwood has increased hundreds of times. At agarwood expos, the prices are so high that they are astonishing. A gram of powder like this costs hundreds of dollars, while the expensive ones cost thousands. This seemingly ordinary agarwood bracelet is priced at several million RMB, which is tens of millions of NT dollars. In the exhibition hall, these price tags are almost everywhere. Now, some people even come to Taiwan specifically to buy them. In Hainan, some people have started planting agarwood,
trying to imitate the natural process of agarwood forming resin. Wang Anzhong, vice president of the Agarwood Industry Association, said, "The scars from the wounds are repaired; these scars are what make agarwood." There is also an intravenous drip method that can increase the yield. Wang Anzhong, vice president of the Agarwood Industry Association, said, "The intravenous resin-forming method injures the entire tree, and when the resin forms, the whole tree becomes resinous." More and more people are going to Hainan to plant agarwood, but from planting to the formation of agarwood, it is a long wait. Hainan agarwood grower Ji Chenghong: "It takes at least 10 years, and the longer the better, the older the tree, the better." The demand for agarwood continues to grow, but the supply may not increase for another 10 years. During this period, the price of agarwood will probably remain low. Source: Yahoo News https://tw.news.yahoo.com/focus%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E-%E9%80%90-%E6%B2%89%E9%A6%99-%E6%8E%A8%E5%8D%87%E6%8A%95%E8%B3%87%E5%83%B9-%E6%9C%A8%E6%9D%90%E7%B5%90%E6%99%B6%E9%9D%9E%E6%9C%A8-130100869.html
A recent agarwood appraisal event in Hainan revealed that one-third of the agarwood was counterfeit. A man from Jiangxi brought his treasured agarwood, which he had kept for many years, for authentication, only to be deeply disappointed. The agarwood collector said, "I won't bet on it lightly anymore. This bet was too big, over 300,000 NTD at the time." Buying counterfeit agarwood cost him nearly 1.5 million NTD, finally making him realize that the world of agarwood is very complex, and that most collectors still lack sufficient understanding of it. A collector of agarwood says, "If you choose correctly, you'll buy a good one; if you choose incorrectly, you'll make a mistake." Agarwood is different from sandalwood. It's not a type of wood, but a substance that forms within the agarwood tree. After the tree is damaged by things like lightning strikes, strong winds, or axe blows, special microorganisms invade and infect it, resulting in a natural solidified substance containing fragrance. The natural process of agarwood formation is very long, sometimes taking hundreds or even thousands of years. Incense culture originated in China and has a history of 2,000 years. However, after the Cultural Revolution, incense culture declined in mainland China. But Taiwan continued to preserve it and later revived in mainland China. There are over 2,000 agarwood businesses in Putian, Fujian, making it the world's largest agarwood trading region. This development began in 1995 when Taiwanese people brought agarwood culture to the mainland. Huang Jia'en, an agarwood business owner, said, "A Taiwanese friend brought agarwood to our home, and that's when we first encountered agarwood and commissioned them to process it." A small piece of what looked like rotten wood was worth 200,000 RMB to the Taiwanese, something they simply couldn't imagine at the time. Agarwood business owner Huang Chia-en: "They were willing to pay very high prices for us to do it for them, and we gradually became a major player in this field (agarwood carving)." Later, they discovered that even before the carving was finished, people wanted to buy it at several times the original price, which led to the gradual development of the local agarwood industry. In recent years, the price of agarwood has increased hundreds of times. At agarwood expos, the prices are so high that they are astonishing. A gram of powder like this costs hundreds of dollars, while the expensive ones cost thousands. This seemingly ordinary agarwood bracelet is priced at several million RMB, which is tens of millions of NT dollars. In the exhibition hall, these price tags are almost everywhere. Now, some people even come to Taiwan specifically to buy them. In Hainan, some people have started planting agarwood,
trying to imitate the natural process of agarwood forming resin. Wang Anzhong, vice president of the Agarwood Industry Association, said, "The scars from the wounds are repaired; these scars are what make agarwood." There is also an intravenous drip method that can increase the yield. Wang Anzhong, vice president of the Agarwood Industry Association, said, "The intravenous resin-forming method injures the entire tree, and when the resin forms, the whole tree becomes resinous." More and more people are going to Hainan to plant agarwood, but from planting to the formation of agarwood, it is a long wait. Hainan agarwood grower Ji Chenghong: "It takes at least 10 years, and the longer the better, the older the tree, the better." The demand for agarwood continues to grow, but the supply may not increase for another 10 years. During this period, the price of agarwood will probably remain low. Source: Yahoo News https://tw.news.yahoo.com/focus%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E-%E9%80%90-%E6%B2%89%E9%A6%99-%E6%8E%A8%E5%8D%87%E6%8A%95%E8%B3%87%E5%83%B9-%E6%9C%A8%E6%9D%90%E7%B5%90%E6%99%B6%E9%9D%9E%E6%9C%A8-130100869.html
