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So far Plantations has created 487 blog entries.

Agarwood in History

The “Wood of the Gods” has at least a 3,000 year history in the Europe, Middle East, India, Japan and China. It was believed that only Kings and the very wealthy were able to benefit from its powers. The tragedy of the agarwood industry is that the whole of the tree has to be felled to obtain the valuable inner layers. Not all trees contain the agarwood in the wild and there are occasions where 10 trees will be cut down to find agarwood in only one. Unsustainable Agarwood harvesting in natural forests has resulted in near extinction in many areas [...]

Why Agarwood Oud Oil Has Become More Precious Than Gold

While Asian and European markets have traditionally favored softer floral and citrus scents, global consumer tastes are moving toward those derived from the aromatic oils of oud, sandlewood and amber long associated with the people of the Gulf. Oud, known in English as agarwood, originates from the barks of trees that only grow in parts of South East Asia. For thousands of years, it has been used in the Middle East and Asia in the form of wooden incense chips, body oils and fragrance, becoming synonymous with hospitality in the Arabian Peninsula. Its smell varies from person to person, and is [...]

Organic vs. Natural – What You Need To Know!

The difference between Organic and Natural is as vast as the difference between a cat and a car. All of us want to eat as healthy as possible, but the advertising industry has been deliberately and un-ethically using the word "Natural" to describe its processed foods for some time, below Plantations International tries to shed some light on the topic for you. What is Organic? Organic is a legally defined system of agriculture which seeks to use ecological methods of production. Its goal is to learn from and mimic natural processes in order to produce the food we eat while also [...]

Special Report: China and The Global Garlic Market

OVERVIEW GLOBAL GARLIC MARKET China, by far the world's largest garlic producer, sets the conditions in the global market. Rumours about problems with the crop and possible losses are being taken relatively calmly by the international market, although there are reports that importers are monitoring their import flows more closely and importing more from other countries in order to avoid problems. Argentinian growers are struggling to maintain their position on the world market. Due to high costs and competition from other countries, they risk losing their capacity to compete. Israeli growers are frustrated about the import quotas, which only allow imports [...]

Thailand based company to help bolster agarwood quality

A Cambodian Agarwood company is teaming up with a Thailand investment partner to spend USD 100 million improving the quality of Cambodia’s agarwood trees, according to a memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies yesterday. Thoub Chankrassna Khmer Co (TCK), which owns agarwood plantations and an incense factory in Preah Sihanouk province, has partnered with Thai-based First Capital Group (FCG) in the hopes of improving the growth, processing and manufacturing of Cambodia’s 1 million agarwood trees. Agarwood, a fragrant wood harvested for its aromatic, religious and medical applications, is a non timber forest product that can fetch prices upwards of [...]

How Does CITES Regulate the Agarwood Trade

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Widespread information nowadays about the endangered status of many prominent species, such as the tiger and elephants, might make the need for such a convention seem obvious. But at the time when the ideas for CITES were first formed, in the 1960s, international discussion of the regulation of wildlife trade for conservation purposes was something relatively new. With hindsight, the need [...]

Why Should You Invest In Agarwood Forestry

Forestry and Timber Investing - The very concept seems either dull or extremely alien. After all, its’ much more satisfying to follow the rest of the herd and chase the latest hot social networking stock such as Facebook or Linkedin. However any investors – especially those looking for true diversification and stable returns – are making a real oversight by ignoring the value timber and forestry investments could bring to their overall portfolio. One question that is always worth considering when looking at investments is where are large institutional investors putting their money? This is not to say that big investors [...]