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Demand for incense pushes up prices for Agarwood
The surging demand for incense has seen the price of Agarwood, its main ingredient, hit an all time high. Farmers near Hong Kong are being encouraged to plant more trees, but so far, only a few seem to be in it for the long haul. Across Asia, people prefer the natural scent of incense than more modern items like air fresheners or sprays. Seen burning in temples all across the continent, the unique aroma is created when a fungus infects aqularia trees, resulting in a darkening of the wood, which is called agarwood. Joey Yuen runs an incense store in Hong Kong. Her supplies were harvested a number of decades ago. “As agarwood became popular, a lot of people in China’s mainland would come over and log the trees and sell them. ” Agarwood is measured using the traditional Chinese unit of weight, the catty, which equals 600 grams. A pack of incense sticks can range anywhere from US$260 to even US$10000 per catty. But there’s a reason behind the high prices. “Only about 10% of the trees can have this fungal invasion, therefore development of the highly priced agarwood. So with such a surge in demand while the supply is declining all the time, it is natural to see the price going up and up all the time. That is why you now have a lot of people investing into incense tree farms because they see an opportunity for making a quick profit,” said Prof. Chi Yung Jim, University of Hong Kong. Chan Koon Wing has been growing and harvesting incense trees with his grandfather since childhood. Four years ago, Chan opened an incense tree farm, home to nearly 10,000 incense trees. But harvesting the cash crop is a slow process. “It’s like planting a normal tree, after eight years, you have to hurt the tree to force it to produce oil. Then you have to wait another five years for the oil to reach a high quality. Only then can it be harvested.” Despite the growth in tree farms, they are unlikely to satisfy the growing demand for agarwood. With natural supplies diminishing and farmed products requiring many years before they can hit the market, demand will continue to outstrip supply. Continue reading
A Good Investment: Farmland Values Likely To Remain High
By Karen Caffarini More Content Now Posted Apr 26, 2013 @ 03:54 PM Last update Apr 26, 2013 @ 04:02 PM One area of real estate remains unscathed by the burst housing bubble: farmland. Prices continue to increase for property with prime soil, especially in the Midwest where corn is king. Farmland values have doubled in Illinois in the past five years, according to William Bailey, director of Western Illinois University’s School of Agriculture, and he doesn’t foresee any drastic drops in the future. Here are a few reasons why. Investment opportunities After the bottom fell out of housing, stock market investments plummeted and interest rates on traditional bank accounts dropped, some investors began looking to agriculture property as providing a relatively safe return, said Bradford T. Knipe, senior managing director at Integra Realty Resources in Boise, Idaho, which specializes in farm property. Many investors will buy the land and lease it back to the farmer, he said. Growth spurt The reasons that caused the last big bubble in farm values to burst in the 1980s — high interest rates, farmers owing banks large amounts of money and lower commodity prices — aren’t present now, Bailey said. “Farmers have paid off their debt, bought good equipment and are looking for places to put their money. In some cases, their neighbor’s farm might look very attractive to add to the size of their own farm,” he said. Knipe said farmers are buying either because they need more land to do what they do, or want to buy out their competition. Foreign investment Countries like China, India and Saudi Arabia are aggressively purchasing foreign farm land to ensure an ample food supply is available for their own people, Bailey said. Local farmers would still work the land; they would rent the property from the other country, he said. The determining factor in this case, however, is whether a farmer will refuse to sell to a foreign investor for patriotic reasons, Bailey said. High commodity prices Hot commodities like corn are helping boost prices for Midwest farmland higher than in the northwest area of the country, such as Idaho and Washington, Knipe said. Bailey said an ideal location and plenty of uses also help Illinois corn farmers, who can ship the golden kernels down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and out to the rest of the world for consumption, to ethanol plants and to other farmers for livestock feed. Back to its roots When the bottom fell out of the residential subdivision market, land that would have been considered for a new housing development reverted back to its agricultural roots. “The real reason for the change was that the market viewed these lands as reverting back to their highest and best use, from development ground to ag ground,” Knipe said. Continue reading
Student Accommodation in London | Student Housing, Flats and Apartments in London
http://www.studentville.co.uk/Student-Accommodation/London London is full of colleges and universities and provides a myriad of accommodation options for stu… Continue reading
