Vietnam's 'incense village' pins hopes on local buyers at Lunar New Year

Quang Phu Cau, Vietnam: Across this village south of Hanoi, otherwise drab patches of ground blaze with colour as bundles of magenta-tipped incense sticks are left to dry in the sun before being distributed across Vietnam and to other parts of the world.

Do Thi Oanh, 37, a resident of Quang Phu Cau, recalls being involved from childhood in making incense sticks burned in Vietnam during prayers to ancestors or in festivals, as well as in cultural and religious rituals around the world.

Now, she worries about the future of the trade after a double whammy of import curbs by India and a new wave of pandemic infections since January, after the coronavirus had been largely contained for months.

"We have been producing incense sticks for many generations in this village, but I'm afraid many of us will have to shut down our businesses due to weaker demand," Oanh said.

Her family business exports just five or six containers of incense sticks to India each month, down from about 15 before the curbs, she said.

"The coronavirus has also hurt domestic incense consumption a little bit, but demand has picked up ahead of the Lunar New Year," Oanh said, speaking just before the holidays known as "Tet" in Vietnam.

Once a cottage industry, most producers in the village now use machines to cut the bamboo used for incense sticks, with the industry providing incomes for nearly 3,000 households.

The fingers of workers are often stained red by the dye used on the incense sticks.

In 2013, Oanh and her husband opened a workshop to make incense sticks and later borrowed about $70,000 from a bank to grow their business.

But when the pandemic started she had to halve her workforce to 10 and cut their hours, before resuming normal operations when orders for the Lunar New Year flowed in. "In the business, there will be up and down times ... I can't do anything but try to figure any way around it," Oanh added.