Booming Sandalwood Industry In Oz (?)

[Guest guest]

Hey Anya,

 

> I'm waiting for Martin to start in about this:

> http://www.abc.net.au/ra/innovations/stories/s1888866.htm Many will

> recognize Sal Battaglia's name here.

 

This new crop of Santalum album might be a big Boom .. or a little

Pop. I reckon marketing will make a difference in the beginning and

they've begun a good campaign .. Huntley-Brinkley type conversations

make the participants appear to be more like real humans discussing

real subjects and not programmed robots repeating lines of text ..

appearance often counts more than reality when marketing.

 

Its too early to get a valid analysis of the chemical profile of this

crop since it will be different when the tree matures and is

harvested. Some experiments have showed that attempts to duplicate

the original soil/climatic conditions of a plant's home (origin) are

tough and sometimes not effective.

 

Native Origin of most species of plant life makes a big difference in

the quality and value of the final product. Rose Otto grown in Turkey

or Bulgaria is twice the quality of that grown in India or Russia ..

if the Indians and Russians could do something to make their product

as valuable as the Turkish or Bulgarian .. they would do it. But

there is nothing they can do. Black Pepper EO from Madagascar is so

superior to that from India that I can't understand why folks bother

to market the Indian oil. Haitian Vetiver is superior to Chinese ..

Australian Tea Tree is superior to Chinese .. Geranium from Madagascar

is superior to that grown in Egypt and China .. and most of us can

give examples such as these for most any EO on the market .. but the

point is made. There might be someone say " I like the Chinese

Geranium more than that from Madagascar .. but international market

value will show that the opinion of that person is not shared by many

people.

 

Also .. its tough to try to cultivate a species that has typically

been wild grown .. this holds for plants and animals. For sure there

are some successes but there are far more failures than successes ..

even there are failures in India .. according to Christopher McMahon,

who is as knowledgeable about Sandalwood as I am about Rose Otto .. he

had been on the ground in India many times.

 

On Origin .. the case I refer to often (and for many reasons) is the

Vidalia Onion .. only soil in Vidalia, Georgia can produce a super

nice Vidalia Onion. They are grown in Texas now (Rio Grande Valley is

ideal for onions) and they are nice .. but not the same as the Vidalia

grown in Georgia.

 

Tennessee Beefsteak Tomatoes are another example .. gotta buddy owns a

farm that is in Todd County, KY & Christian County, TN .. straddles

the state line. He planted Beefsteaks on a patch of his land and them

on the Tennessee side of that patch did real well .. them on the

Kentucky side of that patch shrieveled up and died. Most guys back

home will say that even though the gals on both sides of the line grow

up eating hush puppies and fried green tomaters .. the gals grown on

the Tennessee side are purtier than them on the Kentucky side .. but

like I wrote in the beginning, marketing makes a difference and

appreciation of beauty in wimmenfolks is as individual as olfactory

appreciation of an EO. ;-)

 

Reference Battaglia's prices:

 

> SAL BATTAGLIA : From a retail end point of view it is quite expensive -

> a little 5 ml bottle now costs about $70 that we sell it for - and this

> is the genuine santalum album from India. It is a very expensive oil.

 

I sell 5 ml of Mysore Sandalwood (Santalum album) for $17.99 .. and

make a profit at that price. http://www.av-at.com/prices.html ..

maybe I should oughta take a good look at my prices .. raise'em up a

bit. ;-)

 

But .. I even though the source of supply is the same .. might be that

Sandalwood will smell nicer and be a lot worth more if its marketed by

a well known member of the Aromatherapy Gud Ol' Boys & Gals Club. ;-)

 

> of Natural Perfume

> Artisan Natural Perfumers Guild http://ArtisanNaturalPerfumers.org

> Natural Perfumers Community Group

>

> Natural Perfumery Blog http://AnyasGarden.Blogspot.com/

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch http://www.AV-AT.com