China’s Wild Ginseng Craze Has Spread All the Way to Appalachia

Real Clear Life ^ | October 17, 2016

[2ndDivisionVet]

The Far East’s Ginseng root is best known for its medicinal (and aphrodisiacal) qualities. The root, in its natural state, is wildly popular in Asia—but also in short supply. To sate this demand, a black market for wild ginseng has cropped in the most unlikely of places: Appalachia.

Currently, the global market for wild ginseng is around $2 billion. Long a staple in China and Korea, the root is finding new popularity in Singapore and Malaysia now, too. Most ginseng is grown in factory-like settings on a mass scale. But wild ginseng is considered more potent and, thus, more expensive. Cultivating the root is also more destructive, too.

Among the regions where ginseng is indigenous, wild ginseng has become increasingly scarce in East Asia. In an effort to prevent overharvesting, trade of the wild root has been banned in China and Russia. That leaves the only other part of the world where ginseng grows on its own: the eastern United States.

Much like their Asian counterparts, authorities in the United States and Canada have criminalized sale of the root. Despite this, there were 81,500 pounds of wild ginseng sold in 2014. With the markup for the root being around 15 times the cost of the mass-produced variety, the illegal ginseng sold for about $800 per pound when dried. Realizing the easy revenue and trying to double down on conservation efforts, states such as North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia have rushed to legalize ginseng harvesting periods. Given the huge markups and profit involved, however, illegal foraging of wild ginseng it still a major problem....

[Roccus]

Here in North Central WV you’ll see dealers’ vans parked at a wide spot in the road in March. They’ll have signs saying they buy sang, pelts and deer hides

[RegulatorCountry]

If it’s cash money they’re buying at a heavy discount, correct?

[Roccus]

I assume it’s cash, but I don’t know about discounts. Never got involved with it. I just see them every year in the same spots.