I had the occasion to visit Turkey last week during the Rose season.
The variety of Rose grown for oil is DAMASCENA in Turkey and Bulgaria ,whilst the Moroccon and Egyptian variety comes from CENTIFOLIA.
The normal crop of Rose crop inTurkey will yield about 0.8-1.0 of oil and about 10-12 mt of Rose Absolute.
However this year the situation looks very different.Although the acerage has increased,the yields are dramatically down.It is expected that the yields could be down by about 20%. The low yield is factor of the water content on the petals,which in turn is directly proportional to the rain in the area.
The costs go up ,as the distillers in the area pay for petals by weight,and when the petals have more water, the distillers are in effect paying more for the oil they get out of these petals .
It is important to note that when the leaves are brought by the farmers to the factory,they are separated for production of oil and absolute.The factories know by experience the different farms for producing Rose Oil or Absoltue and the leaves are segregated acordingly.
The situation of the Bulgarian Rose appears to be no better.The prices have already moved, up from levels of Euro 5000 /kilo to levels of Euro 5400/kilo,and as the contracts are signed this is only going to worsen
The Rose season lasts from May to end of June and at the time of visiting the fields in Turkey in the middle of June ,it was appearing that the season is almost over.
