Sri Lanka’s Agarwood tree value may well soar above Rs. 1 million with product diversification

By Sanath Nanayakkare

The value of an Agarwood (Wallapatta) tree in Sri Lanka will soar to more than Rs. 1 million by 2028 with properly curated product diversification, Kumar Dharmasena, Chairman of Pintanna Plantations said in Ayagama- Ratnapura on Saturday.

He said so while pledging to make Ayagama the heart of Agarwood farming in Sri Lanka along with high-tech processing of the perfumery end-product. He was speaking at an event where the Sri Lanka Philatelic Bureau of the Department of Posts issued a commemorative stamp and first day cover recognising his forest products company’s contribution to the economy and the society at large.

Dharmasena unveiled a newly constructed multi-purpose building equipped with modern technology at Pintanna Estate coinciding with the commemorative stamp launch.

“We specialize in cultivating, adding value and exporting the processed end- product extracted from this most commercially valued tree to the global market and we bring foreign exchange to the country. I believed in this dream for many years when hardly anyone wanted to believe in it. We had only a limited number of investors who bought our plants those days and they also invested in the project placing trust in me rather than in the project’s future. But today, as the company possesses tangible assets in terms of increased farming land of Agarwood, manufacturing and processing plants, R&D centre, dedicated staff and sales centres in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman under ‘Silani ‘ brand, more and more investors are placing their trust in our growth trajectory. I think with proper product diversification, we should be able to increase the value of an Agarwood tree to more than Rs. 1 million by 2028. I invite potential investors to study and explore what we have achieved so far and join with us in our forward journey. By investing in Agarwood, you will get a good return on your investment and it will also help create a greener future for Sri Lanka,” he said.

Presenting return on investments (ROI) to a group of investors who had bought Agarwood plants three years ago, he said,” Today they got more than 22% ROI on their investments which is more attractive than current market interest rates. Having seen our growth and capacity, some investors have decided to reinvest their returns in the project on a longer term further encouraging us.”

“Today we are engaged in the total cycle of commercialization of Agarwood. At our state-of-the-art laboratory, we study and research this phenomenal Agarwood tree to harness more uses from it. Each successful experiment has proved to us that there is more to it than meets the eye. Our R&D activities will ensure consistent growth of our product portfolio beyond making Agarwood chips and Oud oil distilling. Agarwood tea is another one of our innovative products. In the years ahead, we will be focusing on using the extract of Agarwood in 102 products in addition to its main products. We have not achieved at least 50% of our potential yet. When our ‘Unanduwa’ perfume brand goes global and when our planned local and global expansion drive is completed, that will make up 50% of our journey,” he noted.

He went on to say that Wallapatta which gives the best of fragrances of Agarwood family is uniquely endemic to Sri Lanka, and therefore, all stakeholders engaged in the industry have a duty to safeguard the uniqueness of Sri Lankan Wallapatta without transporting its seeds beyond the country’s borders.

The event also saw the unveiling of Sri Lanka’s first Agarwood Museum which Dharmasena said would serve to ignite entrepreneurial spirit among Sri Lankan youth, requesting them to work hard and think innovatively to achieve success for themselves and the country.