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