Chengmai agarwood refers to the characteristic agriculture and forestry industry centered on Aquilaria sinensis in Chengmai County, Hainan Province. Chengmai is the "Hometown of Chinese Agarwood" and also a national comprehensive demonstration zone for standardized agarwood planting. Its significance lies not in the size of the area, but in providing a replicable county-level approach: breaking a single tree into six segments to operate—nursery, planting, processing, branding, cultural tourism, and digital trading.
**Chengmai agarwood** refers to the characteristic agriculture and forestry industry centered on Aquilaria sinensis (*Aquilaria sinensis*) in Chengmai County, Hainan Province. Chengmai is the "Hometown of Chinese Agarwood" and also a national comprehensive demonstration zone for standardized agarwood planting. Its significance lies not in the size of the area, but in providing a **replicable county-level approach**: breaking a single tree into six segments to operate—nursery, planting, processing, branding, cultural tourism, and digital trading.
| Indicator | Value | Basis | |---|---|---| | Agarwood planting area | 30,000 mu (about one-fifth of the province) | Chengmai County Government / China Economic Information Service, 2026 | | Agarwood nurseries | 21 | Same as above | | Planting cooperatives | 22 | Same as above | | Processing entities | 38 | Same as above | | Agarwood industrial parks | 3 | Same as above | | Annual output value | Exceeding 100 million yuan | Same as above |
> Separately, according to reports during the autumn release of the Xinhua Index in September 2026, Chengmai's agarwood planting area has reached **34,000 mu**, with 21 supporting nurseries, 22 cooperatives, 38 processing entities, and 3 industrial parks, forming a full-chain pattern of "planting + processing + sales + cultural tourism." The difference between the two figures comes from the statistical timing; this article uses the former (government figure) as the standard and indicates the source.来源。
Chengmai does not treat agarwood as a single crop, but lays it out according to **"1246"**:
Regional IPs are incubated simultaneously—"Xiangyu Wenru" and "Xiangzhi Jiale"—unified under the regional public brand "Chengmai Fragrance · Fragrant World."
**① Finance: 2 billion yuan special credit line for "agarwood loans."** Supported by "free seedlings + planting subsidies," it cushions farmers through the hardest period—**the first three years with no income**. Agarwood usually takes several years from planting to resin formation; cash flow design matters more than planting technology in determining whether farmers participate.
**② Traceability: Implementing "one tree, one code."** An international agarwood digital trading platform is being built simultaneously. The biggest cost in the agarwood market is **trust cost**—production area, resin formation method, and whether it has been artificially treated are extremely difficult to judge with the naked eye; one tree, one code moves authentication forward to the tree itself.
**③ Research: Doctoral innovation station + industry college.** In January 2026, under the guidance of the Hainan Association for Science and Technology and jointly established by the Provincial Doctoral Association, the Chengmai County Association for Science and Technology, and the County Forestry Bureau, the **Chengmai Agarwood Industry Doctoral Innovation Station** was inaugurated, focusing on three key areas: **improved variety breeding, efficient resin formation, and deep processing**, with a mechanism of "resident experts + regular consultations + tripartite linkage." Chengmai is also preparing to establish the world's first agarwood industry college and the Hainan International Agarwood Industry Research Institute.
**④ Talent and goals: By 2027.** The county's agarwood planting area will expand to **42,000 mu**, with a thousand-mu demonstration base, a GAP standardized base, and a provincial-level germplasm resource bank, with annual seedling capacity reaching **1.2 million plants**.
In January 2026, the **Hainan International Agarwood Technology Innovation Demonstration Industrial Park** was signed and commenced in Jiale Town, Chengmai, with a total investment of **269 million yuan**, a planned area of about **2,000 mu**, and plans to plant about **900,000 Aquilaria sinensis trees**, while innovatively promoting an ecological model of **intercropping Lingzhi and other medicinal mushrooms under agarwood forests**, achieving "dual use of one land, dual harvest from one land."
The park's product side covers medicinal agarwood, aromatic agarwood (incense sticks, essential oils, fragrances), as well as agarwood moxibustion, agarwood tea, agarwood daily necessities, skincare products, and other big health categories; it also plans to build the **China (Hainan) International Agarwood Trading Center** and an **Agarwood Museum**. According to estimates, the project will achieve stable returns from the third year of planting, and after reaching full-capacity operation (years 10–12), **annual comprehensive output value can exceed 1 billion yuan, annual tax payments will be no less than 20 million yuan, and 300–500 jobs will be created**.
Jiale Town itself is already a core production area: the town's agarwood planting area is **9,550 mu**, with 4 agarwood product processing factories, 5 large-scale planting bases, and 56 specialized agarwood processing households. Through the "village collective + enterprise + farmer" model, it has driven employment for more than 200 people, forming a pattern of "one town, two belts, four parks."
Chengmai is not an isolated case; it is embedded in provincial planning. The **Hainan Province Agarwood Full Industry Chain Innovation Development Plan (2023–2030)** issued by the Hainan Provincial Department of Science and Technology together with the Provincial Forestry Bureau proposes:
> Build an **international high-quality agarwood raw material base, an international agarwood product deep-processing base, an international agarwood R&D center, and an international agarwood trade center**, and follow an **integrated development model of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries**.**。
Phase targets:
| Phase | Province-wide planting area | Annual output | Output value | |---|---|---|---| | 2023–2025 | 155,000 mu | 400 t | RMB 2 billion or more | | 2026–2030 | 180,000 mu | 600 t | RMB 5 billion or more |
The plan states that Hainan's agarwood tree planting area had already reached **140,000 mu, ranking third nationally**, and that it holds a series of agarwood industry standards and **two geographical indication certification trademarks**: "Hainan agarwood (incense)" and "Hainan agarwood (traditional Chinese medicinal material)".
At the plaque-awarding ceremony for the Doctoral Innovation Station, officials laid out the bottlenecks plainly:
1. **Lack of efficient resin-induction technology** — long resin-induction cycles and uneven induction techniques directly determine supply elasticity; 2. **Insufficient supply of high-value-added products** — raw materials sell well, but deep processing and high-value-added products are few; 3. **Poor conversion of scientific and technological achievements** — there is still a layer between papers and forest land.
At the provincial level, problems such as weak industrial clustering, low internationalisation, and the lack of leading enterprises to drive development have also been noted. In other words, **Chengmai has paved the road "from tree to output value", but the road "from output value to pricing power" is not yet complete**—which is also why the plan calls for building an international agarwood trading centre.
**Q: Why has Chengmai agarwood been able to become an industry?** Three things combined: first, planting was broken down into six business segments—"nursery—planting—processing—brand—cultural tourism—trading"; second, the "agarwood loan" and seedling subsidies were used to support cash flow through the first three years; third, "one tree, one code" was used to solve the cost of trust upfront.
**Q: Which is accurate, 30,000 mu or 34,000 mu?** Both are public figures; the difference comes from the statistical reference date. The government figure and the China Economic Information Service report give 30,000 mu (about one-fifth of the province); reports during the September 2026 Xinhua Index release period said it had reached 34,000 mu. This article notes both side by side and does not combine them in calculations.
**Q: How long does agarwood planting take before there is income?** It usually takes several years for resin to form. The calculation basis for the Jiale town industrial park project is "stable income from the third year of planting, with full capacity reached in years 10–12", which can serve as a reference magnitude for understanding the industry cycle.
**Q: What are Hainan's province-wide targets?** According to the provincial plan: by 2026–2030, the province-wide planting area will be 180,000 mu, annual output 600 t, and output value RMB 5 billion or more, and the "two bases, two centres" and an integrated primary-secondary-tertiary industry model will be built.
> Data sources: Chengmai County People's Government (plaque-awarding for the Doctoral Innovation Station, 2026-01); Hainan Provincial People's Government website (interpretation of the *Hainan Agarwood Whole-Chain Innovation Development Plan (2023–2030)*, report on the start of construction of the Jiale town industrial park, 2026-01); China Economic Information Service, *May 2026, Issue 7 Overall*, Chengmai agarwood special topic; 2026 Xinhua Index Autumn Release Celebrating the Harvest (2026-09-19).9）。
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**The Chengmai Model: How 30,000 Mu of Agarwood Became a 100-Million-Yuan Industry**
*Chengmai agarwood* refers to the county-level industry built around *Aquilaria sinensis* in Chengmai, Hainan — holder of the titles "Home of Chinese Agarwood" and a national standardised agarwood-planting demonstration zone. Its significance is not acreage but a **replicable county playbook**: one tree operated as six businesses — nursery, planting, processing, brand, cultural tourism, and digital trading.
**The base:** 30,000 mu (about one-fifth of the province's total), 21 nurseries, 22 cooperatives, 38 processing entities, 3 industrial parks, annual output value past RMB 100 million (Chengmai county government / China Economic Information Service, 2026). Reports around the 19 Sep 2026 Xinhua Index autumn release put the acreage at 34,000 mu; the difference is a matter of counting date, and this article states both rather than merging them.
**The layout — "1246":** one brand leading ("Home of Chinese Agarwood"), two cores driving (Jiale and Wenru towns), four towns coordinating and six sites linking up, covering ten priority tasks from planting optimisation to brand export, sci-tech innovation and cultural empowerment. Sub-IPs "Xiangyu Wenru" and "Xiangzhi Jiale" sit under the regional public brand "Chengmai Xiang · Xiang Shijie".
**Four levers:** (1) **Finance** — a RMB 2 billion dedicated "agarwood loan" facility plus free seedlings and planting subsidies, carrying growers through the first three cash-flow-free years. (2) **Traceability** — "one tree, one code", with an international digital trading platform, moving authentication forward to the living tree; in agarwood, trust is the largest cost. (3) **Research** — the Chengmai Agarwood Industry Doctoral Innovation Station (certified Jan 2026) targets improved-variety breeding, efficient resin induction and deep processing via "resident experts + periodic consultation + tripartite linkage"; a global-first agarwood industry college and the Hainan International Agarwood Industry Research Institute are being prepared. (4) **Targets for 2027** — 42,000 mu, a thousand-mu demonstration base, a GAP-standard base, a provincial germplasm bank, and annual seedling capacity of 1.2 million.
**Flagship project:** the Hainan International Agarwood Sci-Tech Innovation Demonstration Industrial Park in Jiale (signed and started Jan 2026) — RMB 269 million total investment, ~2,000 mu, ~900,000 *Aquilaria* trees, with *Ganoderma* intercropping for "one plot, two harvests". It plans the China (Hainan) International Agarwood Trading Centre and an agarwood museum; projections put annual comprehensive output above RMB 1 billion at full capacity (years 10–12), tax no less than RMB 20 million, and 300–500 jobs. Jiale town itself has 9,550 mu, 4 factories, 5 large-scale bases and 56 specialist processing households.
**Provincial frame:** the *Hainan Agarwood Whole-Chain Innovation Development Plan (2023–2030)* sets out "two bases, two centres, one model" — international raw-material base, deep-processing base, R&D centre, trading centre, and an integrated primary-secondary-tertiary model — targeting 155,000 mu / 400 t / RMB 2 billion by 2025 and 180,000 mu / 600 t / RMB 5 billion by 2030. Hainan already had 140,000 mu (third nationally) and two geographical-indication certification marks.rks.
**Three unresolved gaps** (stated officially at the innovation-station ceremony): efficient resin-induction technology is lacking; supply of high-value-added products is insufficient; and research results do not convert smoothly. Provincially, clustering is weak, internationalisation is low, and no leading enterprise has emerged. Chengmai has solved "tree to output value"; "output value to pricing power" is still open — which is exactly why a trading centre is in the plan.
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**نموذج تشنغماي: كيف صار 30 ألف مو من العود صناعةً بمئة مليون يوان**
*عود تشنغماي* هو صناعةٌ على مستوى المقاطعة قوامها شجر *Aquilaria sinensis* في محافظة تشنغماي بهاينان، الحائزة لقب «موطن العود الصيني» ومنطقةً معياريةً وطنيةً لزراعة العود. وأهميتها ليست في المساحة، بل في **دليل عملٍ قابل للتكرار على مستوى المحافظة**: شجرةٌ واحدة تُدار بوصفها ستة أعمال — مشتل، وزراعة، وتصنيع، وعلامة، وسياحة ثقافية، وتجارة رقمية.
**Baseline:** 30,000 mu (about one-fifth of the province's total), 21 nurseries, 22 cooperatives, 38 processing entities, 3 industrial parks, and annual output value exceeding 100 million yuan (Chengmai government / China Economic Information Agency, 2026). Reports from the Xinhua Autumn Conference on September 19, 2026 stated the area reached 34,000 mu; the difference in the two figures is due to the census date, so this article lists both figures together and does not combine them.
**Planning — "1246":** one brand leading ("Home of Chinese Agarwood"), two cores driving (Jiale and Wenru towns), four towns coordinating and six sites interlinking, covering ten core tasks from farming improvement to brand export, scientific innovation and cultural empowerment. The brands "Xiang Yu Wenru" and "Xiang Ji Jiale" fall under the public brand "Chengmai Fragrance · World of Fragrance".
**Four levers:** (1) **Financing** — a dedicated agarwood credit facility of 2 billion yuan, with free seedlings and farming support, carrying farmers through the first three years with no cash outflow. (2) **Traceability** — "one tree, one code" with an international digital trading platform, moving verification to the living tree itself; in agarwood, trust is the biggest cost. (3) **Research** — the Chengmai Agarwood Industry Doctoral Innovation Station (awarded January 2026), targeting variety improvement, efficient resin induction and deep processing via "resident experts + periodic consulting + three-way linkage"; the first global agarwood industry college and the Hainan International Agarwood Research Institute are being prepared. (4) **2027 goals** — 42,000 mu, a 1,000-mu pilot base, a GAP standard base, a provincial-level genetic resource bank, and annual capacity to produce 1.2 million seedlings.
**Flagship project:** the Hainan International Agarwood Scientific Innovation Park in Jiale (signed and launched January 2026) — total investment 269 million yuan, about 2,000 mu, about 900,000 trees, with Ganoderma planted between the trees to achieve "one land, two crops". The park plans a China (Hainan) International Agarwood Trade Center and an agarwood museum; comprehensive output value is estimated at more than 1 billion yuan at full operation (years 10–12), with taxes of no less than 20 million yuan and 300–500 jobs. Jiale town itself has 9,550 mu, 4 factories, 5 large-scale bases and 56 households specializing in processing.
**Provincial framework:** the *Hainan Full-Chain Agarwood Industry Innovation Plan (2023–2030)* sets out "two bases, two centers and one model" — an international raw materials base, a deep-processing base, a development center, a trade center, and an integrated model of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries — targeting 155,000 mu / 400 tons / 2 billion yuan by 2025, and 180,000 mu / 600 tons / 5 billion yuan by 2030. Hainan had already reached 140,000 mu (third nationally) and holds two geographical certification marks.
**Three unresolved gaps** (stated officially at the station award ceremony): efficient resin induction technology is lacking; the supply of high-value-added products is insufficient; and the transformation of scientific results is not smooth. At the provincial level, clustering is weak, internationalization is limited and there is no leading company. In other words, Chengmai has solved "from tree to output value", but "from output value to pricing power" remains open — which is exactly why the trade center is included in the plan.