A factory worker found valuable whale vomit that could be worth a fortune and gave it to his boss.

The unidentified man reportedly went fishing on his day off and noticed four lumps of varying sizes floating near his boat in Narathiwat province, southern Thailand, on January 20.

He scooped up the lumps and took them back with him to the coconut processing factory but since he did not know what they were, he reportedly gave them to his boss.

The factory owner then looked up information about them and found that they could be an expensive substance called Ambergris, used in the perfume manufacturing industry.

Factory owner Suwanna Dam-in, 52, said: 'A worker gave it to me. I researched what they could be and found that they are ambergris.

'We are now thinking about having them tested by experts at the Songkhla University to be sure that they are real.'

The lumps have a yellowish to brownish tone and weigh at least 5kg each with the biggest one reaching up to 16kg.

Suwanna did the burn test which made the lumps melt like a candle and returned to normal under cold temperature so she was hopeful it could be real.

However, a potential buyer wanted to make sure that it was real so he asked to get a certificate from experts at the university before he could offer a deal.

The factory owner said she was willing to sell the lumps to an interested buyer if they agree with the price but it was unknown if the person who found the lumps could receive something from the deal.

Ambergris is produced by sperm whales when bile ducts in the gastrointestinal tract make secretions to ease the passage of large or sharp objects. The whale then vomits the mucilage which solidifies and floats on the surface of the ocean – sometimes for hundreds of years.

The solid chunk has a foul smell at first but after the mucilage dries out, it develops a sweet and long-lasting fragrance, which makes it a sought-after ingredient in the perfume industry as it gives off a ‘musky, sweet, or earthy scent’.

Provinces along the south east Thai coast – where currents from the South China Sea and Java Sea merge into the Gulf of Thailand – have been the scene of dozens of finds, helped by growing awareness of what the waxy substance is.

In September last year, Thai fisherman Narong Phetcharaj found a 30kg piece of ambergris which was authenticated. He received an offer from a Chinese businessman of GBP 23,740 per kg.

In 2018, Boonyos Tala-upara, 44, found a piece weighing 10kg on the islandof Koh Samui, which was valued at GBP 318,500 (USD 500,000).

Elsewhere in the world, in April 2016, a 1.57-kilogram ambergris ball found in Lancashire, England, sold for GBP 50,000 (USD 67,182) while in November of the same year, three Omani fishermen found 80KG of ambergris and sold it for GBP 2,233,000 (USD 3,000,000).