From tree to Oud
Value addition should happen inside Assam rather than exporting raw material. Every step from the nursery gate to the export carton is work that can stay in the district.
Twelve stages, all of them jobs
Farmers to export
- Farmers
- Nursery
- Plantation
- Inoculation
- Harvesting
- Processing
- Testing
- Distillation
- Perfumery
- Packaging
- Branding
- Export
Roles the ecosystem creates
- Farmers
- Technicians
- Researchers
- Distillers
- Perfumers
- Packaging workers
- Exporters
- Logistics providers
- Traders
The broader industry needs clusters, processing centres, laboratories, training institutions and FPOs.
Value addition should happen inside Assam rather than exporting raw material — that is what keeps the margin, and the skill, in the district.
Nursery to bottle, in one district
- 1
Nursery
MJI raises its own saplings in Golaghat.
- 2
Plantation
The crop is grown in the ODOP district.
- 3
Harvest and grading
Material is hand-sorted by resin content.
- 4
Distillation
In-house stills run batch by batch.
- 5
Oil and bottling
Products are blended and bottled in Assam.
Oil production
- Sorting
- Chipping
- Crushing
- Soaking
- Distillation
- Separation
- Filtration
- Maturation
- Testing
Every batch is sorted, chipped, crushed and soaked before it reaches the still — then separated, filtered, matured and tested before it is bottled.
What a mature tree carries
A mature tree, 25 years or older, may have a fresh harvested weight of 150–200 kg. After approximately 60% drying loss, the presentation uses a planning example of 175 kg fresh weight yielding 70 kg dry material.
Premium agarwood chips
Approximately 3–5 kg per mature tree
Hand-separated and highly resinous.
Oil-grade infected chippings
Approximately 45–50 kg
47.5 kg used as a planning average.
Bakhoor and incense grade
Approximately 15–22 kg
The balance of the dry material.
These are planning figures. Actual results vary by tree age, infection, resin concentration, moisture, species and processing.
Raw-material planning model
- RM Chipping
- 430 kg — 74.14%
- RM Suran
- 150 kg — 25.86%
- Total raw material per cycle
- 580 kg
- Trees
- About 13 mature, naturally infected trees (approximately 49 kg usable material per tree)
- Target
- Approximately 1 kg agarwood oil
Approximate MJI process recovery: 0.172% of total raw material. This is an observed target under MJI process conditions, not a universal agarwood-oil yield.
Yield range per session: 1 kg oil from 430 kg raw material (0.2326%, high-resin case) to 580 kg raw material (0.1724%, conservative planning case).
Actual yield depends on raw-material quality, resin concentration, moisture, processing conditions and distillation efficiency.
Production scale
| Oil | RM Chipping | RM Suran | Total RM | Trees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 kg | 430 kg | 150 kg | 580 kg | About 13 |
| 10 kg | 4,300 kg | 1,500 kg | 5,800 kg | About 130 |
| 50 kg | 21,500 kg | 7,500 kg | 29,000 kg | About 650 |
| 100 kg | 43,000 kg | 15,000 kg | 58,000 kg | About 1,300 |
Indicative figures only. Actual yield, quality, and value vary with biological, material, and processing conditions.
Indicative mature-tree value model
| Output | Quantity | Rate | Indicative value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premium chips | 4 kg | ₹1,50,000–2,50,000/kg | ₹6,00,000–10,00,000 |
| RM Chipping | 33.08 kg | ₹350–1,200/kg | ₹11,538–39,692 |
| RM Suran | 11.54 kg | ₹3,000–5,000/kg | ₹34,615–57,692 |
| Oil equivalent | 76.92 g | ₹10–16 lakh/kg | ₹76,923–1,23,077 |
Indicative gross product value per mature, naturally infected tree: ₹7.2–12.2 lakh.
Before the Bakhoor-grade balance, and before conversion into perfume, attar or Bakhoor. All values are indicative commercial-planning figures, not guaranteed biological yields.
Indicative figures only. Actual yield, quality, and value vary with biological, material, and processing conditions.
Where the value sits
- Premium chips82%
- Oil equivalent10%
- RM Suran5%
- RM Chipping3%
Share of the midpoint per-tree value. Grading skill, rather than volume alone, determines much of a tree's worth.
Skill, not volume
Most of a tree’s value sits in the small share of material hand-picked as premium chips. Grading is a craft decision before it is a commercial one — and it is made in Golaghat, by hand.
Nursery to bottle, in one district
Chips, oil, perfumes, bakhoor, incense and agar tea — every line comes out of the same chain.