The price of agarwood is determined jointly by its place of origin, oil content and fragrance

Agarwood is a fragrant material formed when trees of the Thymelaeaceae family are injured, secrete resin, and the resin accumulates over many years. Because the formation of agarwood is slow and the resource is scarce, it has been a precious spice and medicinal material since ancient times, and its price is generally higher than that of ordinary wood. Its price range is extremely wide, from affordable entry-level fragrant products to collectible-grade old material, and the differences between different grades are very large.

The main factors affecting the price of agarwood are place of origin, oil content, fragrance and the way the agarwood is formed. Traditionally, agarwood from places such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Hainan each has its own flavor, and generally the higher the oil content, the greater the density and the richer the fragrance, the higher the price; because wild old material is increasingly scarce, its market price is often far higher than that of agarwood formed by artificial planting.

On the market, agarwood circulates in forms such as raw material, incense sticks, bead bracelets and essential oil, and the pricing methods also differ. Raw material is often priced by the gram or by the piece, while finished products also include craft costs. Whether it sinks in water is often used as a reference for grading; sinking material has abundant oil and high density and is generally more sought after by the market.

Because agarwood lacks a unified grading standard, fakes that pass off inferior goods as superior, use high-pressure oil injection or chemical soaking are not uncommon on the market, and beginners are prone to pitfalls when buying. It is advisable to buy through formal channels, ask for an appraisal certificate, smell and compare more, and not simply covet low prices, so as to avoid paying a high price but buying a poor-quality product.