Employing the air layering method, the local manufacturers, Hasan Ege Tütüncüoğlu and İbrahim Topal, have successfully produced 30,000 mastic tree saplings in just three years.

Reflecting on the very beginning of the process, Tütüncüoğlu noted that they initially had about 1,000 mother mastic trees.

“These 1,000 mature trees yield both mastic gum and saplings. With our parent trees, we can yield about 100 kilograms of the geographically recognized ‘Çeşme mastic gum,’” he said.

Currently, they can manufacture with a loss of only 1 percent, he said, prompting them to boost their output even more.

“However, we need appropriate areas in order to increase our production,” he said, noting that these 30,000 saplings are waiting to be planted.

The lack of allocated spaces stems from the land prices being extremely high due to the district being a tourism hotspot, according to Tütüncüoğlu.