According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Lao Cai province, in 2010 the area of cassia growing in Lao Cai is about 4,000 ha, in the period 2015 – 2020, the province sets a target of 20,000 ha of cassia. However, by 2020, Lao Cai has implemented 42,000ha, including 3,500ha of organic cassia. Every year the plantation area expands by about 10%.
Lao Cai is also very interested in the process of seed production and cassia processing facilities. Currently, in the whole province, there are 57 production and business establishments providing cassia tree varieties and 11 cassia processing factories.
Cassia bark is currently exported directly to 9 markets including Singapore, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Qatar, Lebanon, Israel, and Turkey. However, the main export products are cassia bark raw materials and essential oils with low value. Although there are 3,500 hectares of organic cassia, almost organic products are exported to the Indian market and a few to high-end markets such as the EU and the US, but mainly.
Cassia essential oil has been exported to foreign markets such as China, EU, USA, Sri Lanka… with a volume of 400 tons of essential oils. A small portion of about 60 tons of cassia essential oil serves domestic demand.
Currently, local cassia products have also been promoted through domestic and foreign trade promotion activities. At the same time, step by step linking tourism with the promotion and introduction of cassia products.
Hoang Thai is the largest cassia oil factory in Bao Thang, Lao Cai with the capacity of 80 tons/year. The factory is currently expanding its scale and is expected to produce 200 tons/year cassia oil in 2023-2024.
