Deadly practise in frankincense industry
You probably heard of overharvested trees, but who is truly responsible for it? Is it the local harvesters that do not care of the frankincense trees?
Hoarding
In recent years, large companies and bulk buyers have begun operating on massive scales, purchasing huge volumes of frankincense. At first glance, it looks strategic a modern business model designed to keep the price per unit low and secure supply for the future. But beneath the surface, the reality is far more damaging. These companies do not buy according to real market demand or their actual sales.
Instead, they overbuy and store large quantities of resin, creating artificial scarcity and slowly building monopolistic control over the market. What they call “strategy” is, in truth, exploitation.
The Real Consequences
Overharvested Frankincense trees.
Depletion of frankincense trees faster than they can replenish.
Price Manipulation.
Artificial scarcity allows big buyers to dictate prices first pushing them down for farmers, then inflating them for global markets.
Low Quality and Adulteration
To meet unrealistic demand, traders mix different types and species of frankincense. As a result, even reputable brands often don’t know what they are really selling.
Impact for farmers
Local harvesters “the true guardians of the trees “are trapped between two bad choices, either sell below value or be ignored until they accept the buyer’s price.
After all this and more these companies and corporations still claim “sustainability “ In Majabe we do not use the sustainability, because it is the most misleading and misused word in the industry , everybody claim it but nobody know what it really means instead we mean traceability is far more important and the real future for the industry that is the trees and its people.
At Majabe, we refuse to be part of that system. We know the true value of frankincense not just its price, but its soul. As Farmers We honour our trees, the land, and the sacred lineage of these trees. We don’t chase control, but we cultivate balance, trust and shared prosperity.
What once connected civilizations through faith and fragrance is now trapped in a cycle of monopoly and manipulation, a modern form of neocolonial greed where the few profits while the farmers’ livelihoods collapse.
