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Why Agarwood Is So Expensive | So Expensive - YouTube
Channel: Business Insider
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for thousands of years
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agarwood has been known as the wood of
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the gods
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first grader garwood can cost as much as
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a hundred thousand dollars per kilogram
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making it one of the most expensive raw
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materials in the world
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but for this tree to produce any
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agarwood
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it must first become infected with mold
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so how does this infection process work
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what is a garwood used for and what
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makes it so valuable
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aquilaria malocensis is a tree native to
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the rainforests of southeast asia
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prior to infection the healthy heartwood
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inside aquilaria trees is pale
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odorless and worthless however in the
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wild
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damage to the tree by external forces
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such as grazing animals
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sporadically results in the growth of a
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specific type of fungal infection
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inside the tree called phylophora
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parasitica
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the aquilaria's defense to this attack
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is to produce a stress-induced
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aromatic resin called aloes which is
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dark
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and moist over the course of several
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years the aloes slowly embed into the
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heartwood
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to create a wood
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container
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is harvested it needs to be separated
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from the healthy aquilaria wood around
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it
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in a painstaking task that often takes
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hours
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resin infused chips also known as ood
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are carved out by hand
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wood chips are commonly used as incense
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particularly in the middle east
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where they're burnt both as tokens of
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hospitality and infused into clothes and
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garments as a perfume
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from
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food is also distilled into an essential
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oil and in its purest form aged ood oil
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can cost up to eighty thousand dollars
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per liter
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earning the nickname amongst traders of
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liquid gold
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as its popularity continues to grow in
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the west food has become a common
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ingredient in several high-value
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fragrances
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adding a warm musky aroma
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but due to unsustainable production and
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poaching all varieties of aquilaria
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trees are now classified as critically
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endangered
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with experts estimating the global
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population has declined by 80 percent
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over the last 150 years even for those
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surviving aquilaria trees
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the frequency of natural fungal
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infection is extremely low
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some estimates say only two percent of
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wild aquilaria trees
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are adequately infected to produce a
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garwood naturally
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meaning the hunt to find natural
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agarwood is extremely arduous
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natural foreign now bordering on
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extinction in some forestries
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like this one managed by truong in
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vietnam
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trees are artificially inoculated with a
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microbial compound
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to induce the all-important resin
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foreign
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agarwood was described as a fragrant
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product of wealth and luxury
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in one of the world's oldest written
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texts the sanskrit vaders
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dating back as early as 1400 bc
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the aroma produced from agarwood has
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been highly valued by many cultures and
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religions throughout history
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in the nirvana sutra aloes is mentioned
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as a heavenly wood
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used in the cremation of buddha in the
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new testament
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jesus body was anointed with a mixture
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of myrrh and aloes following his
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crucifixion
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and in the sahih al-bukhari hadith the
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description of paradise by allah's
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messenger
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includes the burning of agarwood as
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incense
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the global market for agarwood is
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estimated to be worth a staggering 32
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billion dollars
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but where ood was once so common high
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demand has not only increased the price
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but also the rate of harvesting and
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artificial production
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by the end of 2029 the market is
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expected to double
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to 64 billion dollars
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foreign
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