Agarwood Has Standards - So Why Is It Still Hard to Standardise? The Boundaries of Four Rulebooks

Four rulebooks, four different scopes

Agarwood-related specifications fall roughly into four groups, governing entirely different matters. LY/T 2904-2017 is the foundational forestry industry standard: it defines agarwood as the natural mixture of woody tissue and resinous secretions formed in Aquilaria trees during growth. Without resinous secretion, material is merely agarwood timber, not agarwood. It also sets out basic identification and testing methods, making it the baseline document for authenticity. LY/T 3223-2020 is the only quantitative grading standard, classifying agarwood into four grades based on total content of two core chromone constituents. It reduces subjective bias through instrument testing, but it measures chemistry only and says nothing about aromatic quality.

How local, pharmacopoeia and terminology standards fit in

DB46/T 421-2017, a Hainan local standard, integrates visual inspection, microscopic observation, physico-chemical colour tests and chromatographic analysis, and is widely used to distinguish natural agarwood from fast-induced and oil-soaked or dyed fakes. The Chinese Pharmacopoeia governs medicinal Aquilaria sinensis, specifying origin, identification and content markers; it is a pharmaceutical standard and should not be used to judge collector-grade material. A group standard on agarwood terminology standardises terms such as qinan, shujie and chonglou to reduce ambiguity, but performs no grading.

Why full standardisation remains elusive

The crux is that standards answer "is it genuine and does it meet the threshold", while the dimensions that actually drive value - aromatic intensity, layering, longevity, regional character and craftsmanship - still rely heavily on experience and cannot be captured by a single indicator. Origin, induction method and undisclosed oil-soaking or injection treatments can make two items of the same grade perform very differently. Treat standards as an entry ticket rather than a price ruler: verify species identification, ethanol extract (or agarotetrol) content and treatment screening, then judge aroma and appearance, and insist on one certificate per item plus re-testing rights.

This article is industry observation and educational summary only; it does not constitute trading or investment advice. Purchase agarwood through legal channels and look for traceable, testable sources.