TOPIC: SO WHAT IS THE MAGIC NUMBER?

What price is everyone holding out for? I am wanting around 800, I will have around 11 pounds it looks like.

I sold last year at 770.00 That was the most I ever got for seng.

I sold a bunch for 200-300.00 back in the late 70's early 80's.

Would love to see it go north of 770.00.

My local buyer this year (middle TN) started off at 600... moved on up to 700 and I heard today he is back down to 500.

It's not going the right direction right now.. but I expect things will change for the better mid to late November.

I am going to hang on and hope for higher prices but if it gets much higher than that 770.00 I may let someone have it.

TNhunter

Most I've ever received from my local dealers was $350 for good root, $400 for exceptional root. I didn't find enough this year to sell, everything I dug went into seed beds. Same thing last year. I'm hoping the stars align, and the year I finally find the motherload will be when opening day is paying $1000 per pound green.

I'm waiting for 850 which is what I got last year in early Dec. if I don't get at least 800 I'll hold it till next year.

lenno wrote:

What price is everyone holding out for? I am wanting around 800, I will have around 11 pounds it looks like.

Man, that's a lot of root. I could be mistaken, but I guess you get out almost every day and spend a lot of hours in the woods once you get there. I wish I had more time to spend, but sadly, the way I hunt, I get 2-3 pounds per year.

Anyway, to answer the question, if it hit $750, I would have to consider selling. A lot is going to depend on how the price (hopefully) climbs. It if takes forever to get to $750, I will be much more inclined to sell versus it shooting up quickly to that level.

800-1000 was what we have been shooting for in best case scenario and 700 on the low side.
Son and I have what looks like will be between 14-15 lbs this year once its all dry, I'm thinking closer to the 14lbs than 15 but of course the sons hoping 15 & $1000.00 or disappointed.

I'll be looking for 800 or I'll hang on to it till they want to pay me for my hard work. If they don't then i'd be more then happy to charge them to come hunt my places and deal with the ticks, chiggers, poison ivy and snakes themselfs

I've always dug seng and always loved hunting it.
I guess the price a person wants is what do you feel like it's worth.
Did you enjoy your time in the woods or were you miserable going after it as hard as you could like a job.
Now on the price. If I could get $600 or take a gamble at $800 later or sitting on it for a year I'd sell for $600 which it was bringing 2 weeks ago. Now it's at $500 in KY.
It mostly depends on how badly a person needs the money and what your time was worth.
I tell people to use their own judgement.

Don't forget, if you hold ginseng over from one year to the next it will require certification by your state (illegal to posses uncertified after March).

Also, most importantly, it loses value from one year to the next because of 1) the effects of oxidation (becoming stale) and 2) the additional work and cost to dealers to get it exported

BCastle wrote:

Don't forget, if you hold ginseng over from one year to the next it will require certification by your state (illegal to posses uncertified after March).

Also, most importantly, it loses value from one year to the next because of 1) the effects of oxidation (becoming stale) and 2) the additional work and cost to dealers to get it exported

On point 1 If so why is it perfectly acceptable for the Chinese to hold root for years before selling especially the rarer roots??
In regards to point 2 in my looking into the export side of things and from what I learned from Michael Moore the head of the CITES permitting process once you apply for then can get a multiple export license you then request for your individual export permits for each harvest year being exported showing states purchased from with each single use export permit covering 1 year but each year being allowed to cover root from multiple states with multiple certificates of origin.
So you only have to apply for 2 permits if you were to handle 2013 & 2014 root both and the cost of the single use permits which were valid for I believe 6 months were like $5.00each
You do require 2 export license though if you wish to handle both wild & propagated though. With wild being a 1 year license for $50.00 renewal able yearly and the propagated being $200.00 initially valid for 3 years then renew able every 3years for $100.00
So the costs aren't really that high from what I can tell.