TOPIC: 2013 Dried Ginseng Prices?

I have no answer for your question unless the section is going to grade out common anyway you handle it. In most states there is certain areas that the more desirable grades if ginseng grow. And we pay accordingly if you are a large enough buyer to attract root from miles around. I personally buy ginseng from every corner of the state of WV. Some folks drive 2 1/2 hrs one way to sell to me . That means that the diggers are a 5 hr drive between them. Believe me that the quality changes in that distants.
No matter what or how your dealer buys or what he may tell you....Ginseng is a produce and its not used in anything or transformed into anything.( The good stuff anyway) ! It is used as a tea in its dry form and eaten like an apple in its fresh or green form when its sold at market. Appearance is everything..would you buy a busted up bruised apple ?

Well, honestly, my first thought is that those dealers really don't know the difference and may well be cheating themselves. The wild market is moving to quality over quantity. Not all ginseng is created the same and as Strong Prong pointed out...it does not all have the same value.

If I could give you all one wee bit of advice...get yourself a couple of those one dollar plastic shoe boxes at walmart to put your ginseng in after it has dried. Once it is dry, it will keep just fine in the plastic box with the lid on. And, you will not be breaking the ginseng up by moving it around in a paper or plastic bag. Every time you pick up a paper or plastic bag with ginseng in it, the bag closes up around the bottom corners and breaks off the finer parts of the roots.

Which leads me to another point. Lets say I buy 10 pounds at $1000/lb. We all know there will be fines (broken off small roots) in that 10 pounds. Most normally, we can assume about 7% is going to be fines. That means I just paid $700 for the fines in that 10 lb lot. The problem is, the last fines I sold, only brought $32/lb (that is no typo...32 bucks per pound). So, we have .7 lb that cost us $700 but is only worth $22.40. That means the remaining $677.60 is added to the cost of the remander of the lot, or 93% which is 9.3 pounds in this example. If we divide the $677.60 by 9.3 pounds that adds $72.86/lb. So, In this 10 pound example at $1000/lb, we actually are paying $1072.86 for each pound.

Let me ask you, would you go to a different dealer if he or she were willing to pay you $72 more per pound??

BCastle wrote:

Well, honestly, my first thought is that those dealers really don't know the difference and may well be cheating themselves. The wild market is moving to quality over quantity. Not all ginseng is created the same and as Strong Prong pointed out...it does not all have the same value.

If I could give you all one wee bit of advice...get yourself a couple of those one dollar plastic shoe boxes at walmart to put your ginseng in after it has dried. Once it is dry, it will keep just fine in the plastic box with the lid on. And, you will not be breaking the ginseng up by moving it around in a paper or plastic bag. Every time you pick up a paper or plastic bag with ginseng in it, the bag closes up around the bottom corners and breaks off the finer parts of the roots.

Which leads me to another point. Lets say I buy 10 pounds at $1000/lb. We all know there will be fines (broken off small roots) in that 10 pounds. Most normally, we can assume about 7% is going to be fines. That means I just paid $700 for the fines in that 10 lb lot. The problem is, the last fines I sold, only brought $32/lb (that is no typo...32 bucks per pound). So, we have .7 lb that cost us $700 but is only worth $22.40. That means the remaining $677.60 is added to the cost of the remander of the lot, or 93% which is 9.3 pounds in this example. If we divide the $677.60 by 9.3 pounds that adds $72.86/lb. So, In this 10 pound example at $1000/lb, we actually are paying $1072.86 for each pound.

Let me ask you, would you go to a different dealer if he or she were willing to pay you $72 more per pound??

in honesty bcastle. I don't know my dealer all that well. But someone I dealtwith a guy I sold to for many years always did me good ,until couple years ago he started trying to pick what he wanted and leave me with the rest,and up till then I never concerned myself with what every one else was paying. Sure other may have been getting few more dollars a pound , but I felt comfortable with him. As long as my dealer treats me fair and makes my time in the woods worth it to me I'm fine.

bellco ky wrote:

Sure other may have been getting few more dollars a pound , but I felt comfortable with him. As long as my dealer treats me fair and makes my time in the woods worth it to me I'm fine.

That's a good way to be Bellco. There are times when I can separate lots and maybe pay a little more, but that is maybe only once or twice a season. That means there are basically two separate lots and they have been combined. One would have to be very good and the other very bad. Normally, I look for an average of the lot as it is presented to me. Size, wild character, handling, color and the presence of any significant detractors like all broken up or a high percentage of small or pencil roots. Those detractors can take a decent lot of ginseng and make it not worth as much.