How to Read a Test Report: Three Lines, Two Traps and Three Numbers in the LY/T 3223 Draft

Let me start with something most people in the trade have probably seen.

A customer sent over a report and asked how to grade it. The first thing I looked at was not the extract column, but the moisture column—because his report did not have a moisture item at all.

Without moisture, every number after that is up in the air.

I. The Three Lines in the Standard

The following clauses are quoted from the draft "Quality Grading of Agarwood" on the official website of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, with clause numbers copied as they appear.

The first line is the term definitions (3.3 / 3.4 / 3.5).

According to 3.3, ethanol extract refers to substances in agarwood wood that are soluble in 95% ethanol, mainly including chromone compounds, sesquiterpene compounds, aromatic compounds and fatty acids, etc.

According to 3.4, agarwood wood with an extract of greater than or equal to 4.0% but less than 10.0% is called low-resin agarwood wood.

According to 3.5, agarwood wood with an extract below 4.0% is called white wood.

These two terms are neutral technical classifications, not insults. I do not want the words "white wood" to be used as a dirty word.

To put it plainly, the standard gives every piece of material a name; it is not just lumped together as "agarwood" and left at that.

The second line is clause 4.2: moisture content less than or equal to 10.0%.

The third line is in Table 1.

First, get the thresholds clear: below 4% is white wood, between 4% and 10% is low-resin agarwood wood, and only above 10% does it reach the threshold of the grading table.

II. Trap One: The Top Grade Requires Two Numbers

The grading table has five grades in total: premium, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3 and grade 4.

The premium row in Table 1 requires two numbers to be met at the same time: ethanol extract greater than or equal to 30.0%, and total relative chromone content greater than or equal to 25.0%.

Chromones are the compounds in agarwood that produce fragrance, and the standard calculates them as the sum of two phenylethylchromones.

So a report that only says "extract 35%" does not, according to the original text of the standard, qualify for premium grade—with one number missing, that grade cannot be assigned.

When peers prepare reports, this point is worth explaining to buyers right on the testing commission form; otherwise, if you explain after testing, it is the testing institution doing the explaining, not you.

III. Trap Two: Determination Takes the Lowest Item

Clause 7.1 states very clearly: if all requirements are met at the same time, the grade is determined according to Table 1; if they cannot all be met at the same time, the grade is determined by the lowest grade among the items.

So when a seller tells you "this is the premium grade in the standard," that sentence by itself is not very useful.

You have to check whether moisture passes (clause 4.2), whether the appearance has been dyed or waxed (clause 4.1: it should be clean, not dyed, not waxed, and not moldy), whether the extract is sufficient, and whether the chromones are sufficient—if any one item fails, the whole string drops a grade.

IV. The Sampling Section Is Also Worth Mentioning

Clause 6.1.3: from each package, randomly take 1 sample from each of 2 to 3 different positions, and the total amount should be no less than 15 g.

Testing requires cutting material off, and there is a number for it. This applies to both buyers and sellers—buyers have a number in mind when declaring weight, and sellers know how much material one test consumes.

V. So the Three Numbers to Ask Before Buying

Next time, do not ask "what grade is this string." Ask the seller three numbers:

First, the ethanol extract content, as a percentage.

Second, the total relative chromone content, as a percentage.

Third, the moisture content, as a percentage.

If the report has these three items, you know which grade it falls into; if one is missing, at least you know where it is missing.

One more honest note: for the grading tables circulating on the market, there are two versions of the grade 2 cell—one says 30 to 40%, and the other says above 40%.

I am putting both versions here and not choosing for the reader. But both versions must be noted as second-hand tables, not the original text—if you want to use them, check the original text. In the original text, the values in each row of Table 1 and the grading thresholds are given, and the grade 2 cell is subject to the draft.

At the end of the article, three verifiable paths are attached for peers to check on their own: first, the original standard text can be found on the National Public Service Platform for Standards Information under the standard number LY/T 2904—2017 "Agarwood," where the basis for testing methods can be checked; sensory evaluation and testing methods are both implemented according to that standard; second, the definition of extract cited in this article, the two terms white wood and low-resin agarwood wood, the two requirements in 4.1 and 4.2, the values for each grade in Table 1, the sampling amount in 6.1.3, and the determination rule in 7.1 all come from the main text of the draft, without conversion or extrapolation; third, the standard number and year of the draft are still placeholders in the text, and the officially released version shall be subject to the official text of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the National Public Service Platform for Standards Information; the values cited in this article must not be used directly as a currently effective standard.

For what is recorded above, I welcome correction from peers on any shallow points.

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