Nghe An: Why does the price of incense drop sharply, but some places still have good income?

Discount, difficult to sell

Unlike last year, this time in the vetiver growing area of ​​Thanh Chuong district, wherever you go you hear people talking about it.incense rootThe price of the roots has dropped and sales have been sluggish. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dung in Nho Son hamlet, Thanh Nho commune, said that this year his family planted more than 10 sao of incense roots in both the home garden and the hill garden. Up to now, the incense root garden is too old but has not been harvested yet because it is difficult to sell. Currently, establishments buy dried roots at 20,000 - 22,000 VND/kg, while last year the price was 40,000 VND/kg.

Many vetiver gardens in Thanh Nho commune (Thanh Chuong) have not been harvested because the price is too low. Photo: Huy Thu

Mr. Nguyen Sy Suu - owner of a facility that used to buy incense roots said: In previous years, each incense root crop, we bought dozens of tons of fresh roots to process and send to Ho Chi Minh City for consumption. But this year, due toCovid-19 epidemicDue to the outbreak, the production and trading of incense in the southern provinces have encountered difficulties, so the vetiver roots have not been consumed, forcing us traders to stop purchasing for many months now, so vetiver growers are in a situation where they cannot consume the incense.

Vetiver trees are being grown in many communes: Thanh Nho, Thanh Duc, Thanh My, Thanh Thuy... of the district.Thanh Chuong.

Mr. Le Dinh Hung - Chairman of Thanh Nho Commune Farmers' Association said: In 2021, Thanh Nho Commune planted nearly 30 hectares of vetiver roots. This year, the price of vetiver roots is low, making them difficult to sell, affecting people's income. However, the commune government also encourages people to maintain vetiver roots because this is a suitable crop for the local hilly land.

Some incense root purchasing facilities in Thanh Nho commune have stopped operating. Photo: Huy Thu

DistrictQuy ChauIn recent years, the locality has focused on developing the area of ​​​​agarwood trees, aiming to provide local raw materials for the incense production villages in the district. Mr. Ha Van Khuong - Deputy Director of the District Agricultural Service Center said: Quy Chau currently has 80 hectares of agarwood roots, people have started harvesting for a week now, but the price of dried agarwood roots this year has decreased by about 30% compared to last year, currently only 30,000 VND/kg.

Quynh Thang Commune is the locality that grows the largest area of ​​vetiver trees in Quynh Luu District, maintaining 300 - 350 hectares annually. According to Mr. Le Van Nga - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, people have now entered theharvestvetiver roots, but vetiver growers are less happy, because the selling price of dried vetiver roots in the commune has dropped to 30,000 VND/kg.

"In the commune, there are 6 incense production facilities, which annually consume about 20% of the total incense root output of the commune. The remaining incense roots are purchased by traders and sold to other provinces. Although the price has decreased compared to previous years, incense growers still make a profit," said Mr. Le Van Nga.

Why is there a difference in purchase price?

Vetiver plants are planted in many areas in Quynh Thang commune (Quynh Luu). Currently, people are starting to harvest. Photo: Xuan Hoang

In fact, the price of incense roots in the province has decreased quite deeply, but why is there such a price difference? According to Mr. Le Van Nga - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Thang commune, the quality of incense roots grown in Quynh Thang commune is good, somarketMany places prefer it; at the same time, people have been planting in different seasons, so they don't harvest at the same time, avoiding the situation of price pressure. Moreover, in the commune there are currently 6 establishments processing and producing incense, consuming a part of the incense roots on the spot for people.

For Quy Chau district, a locality with many craft villages and villages with the profession of producing incense, creating trust for customers near and far, therefore, the annual consumption of input materials is large, which is incense roots. Mr. Ha Van Khuong - Deputy Director of the District Agricultural Service Center said that with the current 80 hectares of incense roots in the locality, it is not enough to provide enough raw materials for thecraft villages, the village has a production profession, but also has to buy vetiver roots from other places. Therefore, although this year the price of vetiver roots in the district has dropped, it has not dropped as much as in other places.

Vetiver root is the main ingredient for incense production facilities to supply during the Lunar New Year. Photo: Xuan Hoang

In the complicated situation of the Covid-19 epidemic as in the past time, many agricultural products have been affected, with deep price reductions, including incense roots. Therefore, localities need to propagate and orient people not to rush to switch to growing other crops, but to maintain traditional crops to exploit the potential of the locality, when the epidemic is controlled, prices will stabilize again./.