About us

Established in 2015, Duc Phu AAF., JSC is a young company whose vision is to become an ethical and responsible natural ingredient production and exporting company in Vietnam. One of Duc Phu’s key products is Siam benzoin gum – a resin extracted from the Styrax Tonkinensis tree by piercing small matchbox-shaped cuts on the bark of the tree. This gum is a common natural ingredient used in aromatherapy and cosmetics industry, especially when demand for alternatives for chemical-based ingredients is growing. In the early days of business, Duc Phu had some critical discoveries of the local communities and surroundings of the benzoin gum production areas. Firstly, they realized that a large number of farmers had been accustomed to clearing forests for cultivation, thus seriously hurting biodiversity. Secondly, the weak linkages between households and companies created difficulties in supply chain management of production activities that comply with sustainability criteria. Moreover, biodiversity conservation was not a prioritized agenda to the local governments, and used to be excluded as a requirement in forest plantation and protection. Understanding this, Duc Phu started to build the production chains and linkages with farmers and local authorities to produce benzoin gum since 2017.

Duc Phu became one of the Project partners in late 2017, sharing its vision in contributing to the global efforts of biodiversity conservation while at the same time bringing about benefits and values to the local communities through the adoption of BioTrade principles. Duc Phu has so far worked with around 900 households in 6 provinces, yielding on average 7 to 10 tons of Siam benzoin gum per year.

In Lao Cai – a mountainous province in the northwest region of Vietnam, the company has engaged more than 100 households and helped generate income for the Dao – an ethnic group inhabiting in the region.   The production of benzoin gum in compliance with BioTrade principles has created economic values for the local communities. Duc Phu has made a contractual commitment with the local households to purchase their benzoin gum for export to Europe and used in the cosmetics industry. Every 7-day forest trip, farmers in the mountainous districts of Lao Cai collect about 70 kg of Benzoin resin, which sells for 400,000 VND/kg. Before the local people learned to produce Siam benzoin gum from Styrax trees, the common practice was to chop down the trees and sell for timber. This too generates income for the local people but in a rather unsustainable manner because it deforests and hurts the surrounding biodiversity. In economic term, the price for Styrax timber was much less competitive than that for benzoin gum, and while the trees remain years for benzoin production, once they are cut down for timber, it will take more than 5 years until a new batch is fully grown and can be sold.

With the Project support, Duc Phu has become a member of the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) and pushed for a stronger commitment for ethical sourcing and sustainable fair trade of biodiversity products. The success story of Siam benzoin gum has attracted the attention of the Lao Cai local government. Mr. Do Ngoc Minh, Head of the Forest Protection Department of Van Ban district, said that the model of organic Styrax plantation for resin collection in the area had helped reduce the pressure of people on natural forests. "If we do not want the people to go to the natural forest to cut down timber, we must find them a livelihood. We are considering to propose the replication of the planting of Styrax trees throughout the district and other areas” Mr. Minh said. The local governments are now more willing to support Duc Phu’s sustainable benzoin gum production and advocated communication to households about biodiversity conservation, not only in the production area but also around the areas where they live.