Trees of the agarwood-producing species now occur in very low abundance throughout their range as a result of overharvesting and deforestation. The low percentage of trees with agarwood, and the felling of trees in search of it, result in a huge waste of this resource. Modelling of wild populations indicates that A. malaccensis populations could be sustained if only infected trees of 10 cm dbh or more were harvested.
However, agarwood could be harvested without killing the tree by carving out the affected areas. In the case of A. malaccensis, the trees are suitable for coppicing. For example, traditional harvesters, such as the Indigenous Penan of Malaysia do not fell the trees; rather they check the tree through small holes and if they find agarwood, it is removed with knives (Kanazawa 2016). A similar method has been used in Viet Nam (Akter et al. 2013).