Designer perfumes hit by war and weather as vital ingredient becomes ‘liquid gold’
- Fragrance by luxury brands, such as Christian Dior, Estee Lauder and Chanel, affected by global shortages and unusually hot temperatures that damaged roses
- The distilleries making the products from rose oil run on natural gas, diesel and fuel – commodities whose prices have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine
Business is not a bed of roses for Bulgaria’s rose oil makers these days.
Made from Damask roses grown in the aptly named Rose Valley, the oil is a vital ingredient in the perfumes made by the world’s top luxury brands such as Christian Dior, Estee Lauder and Chanel.
But a heatwave has slashed this year’s harvest of rose petals, labour is hard to find and the global surge in energy prices has increased costs for a product so precious that it is dubbed “liquid gold”.
This year’s oil will be “considerably more expensive,” Plamen Stankovski, a partner at rose oil producer and exporter Bulattars, told AFP in his distillery near Pavel Banya, in Bulgaria’s famed Rose Valley.
Production costs for one kilo of rose oil stood at around 6,000 euros (US$6,300) in 2021, but they have surged by as much as 40 per cent this year. The price of petals alone doubled since last year, according to producers.
This means that a 4.5-kilo glass jar filled with the thick, golden-yellow oil could sell for more than 45,000 euros this year.