What affects the price of Essential Oils?
Last week a client asked me about prices for three different Essential Oils she was interested in: Rosemary, Lavender, and Roman Chamomile. Now, there is a huge difference in pricing between the three. Rosemary Essential Oil is roughly two-thirds the price of Lavender, which in turn is approximately 20% of the price of Roman Chamomile.
My client was a bit taken aback by the range in prices, asking me, “What’s with the Roman Chamomile?” Excellent question, and from this, both this blog and video was born.
What is Yield?
To understand pricing variations, let’s begin with the concept of “yield”. Although there are many different factors involved in the price of Essential Oils, yield is one of the significant ones and therefore important to understand.
“Yield” refers to how much Essential Oil one receives from a quantity of plant material. A general rule of thumb is the higher the yield, the lower the price. To repeat, yield is not the only factor affecting price – others considerations include extraction method, how rare or expensive to cultivate the plant is, oil purity (including whether the scent is natural or synthetic, or diluted with other substances), as well as marketing considerations including whether the Essential Oil is being positioned as a value or exclusive product. And the list goes on.
Importance of Yield
Even with all of these other considerations, the importance of yield ranks high on the list. This is why, for instance, in any specific line of oils, a Rosemary will be less expensive than a Roman Chamomile, notwithstanding anything else.
Moving back to my client’s inquiry about pricing for Rosemary, Lavender, and Roman Chamomile Essential Oils, let’s compare their yields to see how that affects price. I’m also going to add Rose Essential Oil to the comparison to make it even clearer, as Rose oil represents an extreme example of yield issues.
How Yield affects Essential Oil pricing
Disclaimer
First of all – a disclaimer. The figures I quote below are based on my research over the last week. And research uncovers that there is a discrepancy in yield figures between different sources. This makes sense, for yield is affected by many things, including without limitation cultivar (the plant variety specifically bred to carry certain traits), cultivation location and season, and extraction methods. However, even with these variations and any imprecisions, the numbers below still provide a general way of starting to understand variations in pricing between different Essential Oils.
Rosemary Essential Oil Yield
Of the three oils my client asked me about, Rosemary has the greatest yield and is the least expensive. Its yield is approximately 1% to 2%, meaning that about 50 to 100 kg of Rosemary plant material in order to extract a kilogram of Rosemary Essential Oil.
Related to the relatively high yield from Rosemary is the fact that a good percentage of the overall plant material – both leaves and flowering tops – are used to make Rosemary Essential Oil. This means that the overall plant to usable plant material ratio is high.
In addition, Rosemary bushes grow quickly and easily without much water, all of which keep farming costs down. Anyone living in Israel can appreciate this by simply noticing how many Rosemary plants are planted by municipalities on the sides of roads. They are a good choice for municipal greenage because it grows so quickly, is hardy, and does not require much water or care to flourish.
Lavender Essential Oil Yield
Moving up the scale in price, let’s now consider Lavender. Price-wise, Lavender is a lower- to mid-range oil. More expensive than Rosemary, but still affordable for most people.
Looking at yield, Lavender’s yield is lower than Rosemary’s – only about 0.5% to 1.5% yield, compared to 1% to 2% for Rosemary. This means that you need 67 to 200 kg of Lavender plant material to create one kilogram of Lavender Essential Oil.
In addition, generally only the flowering tops of the plants are used in the Lavender extraction process (compared to both flowers and leaves for Rosemary Essential Oil). This affects both yield and therefore price, for if you’re only using flowering tops and not also leaves you need a whole lot more plants to create your oil.
However, balancing this, certain other factors help keep Lavender Essential Oil’s price lower. These include that Lavender, like Rosemary, grows relatively easily and without much water. Its flowers are also not overly delicate, meaning that they can be machine-harvested instead of requiring hand-harvesting, as do delicate blossoms such as Roman Chamomile and Rose.
Roman Chamomile Essential Oil Yield
Let’s now move onto a more expensive oil: Roman Chamomile.
We’ve already talked about Rosemary’s yield being around 1% to 2%, and Lavender’s being about 0.5% to 1.5%. In contrast, Roman Chamomile’s yield is far is lower. Depending on the source you look at, Roman Chamomile yield is about 0.1% to 1% (some give slightly more generous although still low yield figures, at about 0.8% to 1.0%).
Even working with the higher yield figures, this means you need about 100 to 125 kg of flowers (not plants, but FLOWERS) to create a single kilogram of Roman Chamomile Essential Oil. I find figures like this mind-blowing. I mean, what does 125 kg of teeny Roman Chamomile blossoms even look like?
Also contributing to its price, Roman Chamomile blossoms are fragile, requiring hand- rather than machine-harvesting (remember how machine harvesting helps keep the price of Lavender Essential Oil low?).
Rose Essential Oil Yield
My client didn’t ask me about Rose Essential Oil, but I’m adding it here nevertheless (and told her about it via our WhatsApp chat) because I find the figures around Rose oil to be absolutely incredible.
Rose is one of lowest-yielding botanicals in the world. Its yield is only – get this – around 0.02% to 0.03%. This means that to create a single kilogram of Rose oil you need about 3,500 to 5,000 kg of rose blossoms. Not rose plants, but rose BLOSSOMS. In addition, like Roman Chamomile, rose blossoms are delicate, needing to be hand-picked and not machine-harvested, also adding to the final oil’s cost.
Cost vs. value
I’m really glad that my client asked me why Roman Chamomile Essential Oil is so expensive, because it allowed me to refresh my memory about yield by doing this research for her. And it reminded me that even though I sometimes think of Essential Oils as pricey, when I consider how much plant material is in a single bottle, I appreciate how value-filled they actually are.
Any questions? Want to order Essential Oils? I’m here.
~ Sat-Sung
How I help my clients
I help clients who feel stuck in a situation, relationship, or ongoing difficulty. I help them identify the underlying patterns and issues that are driving what is happening, allowing them to make more accurate decisions and take appropriate action. This helps them bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to be.
I am a Human Design Coach and Bach Flower Practitioner, and Human Design and Bach Flowers are the two main tools I use in my work. I often combine Human Design and Bach Flowers because they complement one another. Clients also have the option of working with either one separately. My work is highly individualised, and the tools I use depend on the person, the situation, and my client’s goals.
Essential Oils are an established part of my work. Clients can order oils through me, and I also help them understand and choose oils that are relevant to what they want to address. Where appropriate, I incorporate Essential Oils into my broader work. I may also draw on additional tools, such as Access Bars sessions and intuitive readings.
The tools I use vary, but the purpose of my work remains consistent: to understand what is really driving the challenges in my clients’ lives, identify the underlying patterns and issues, and help my clients move forward in a focused, practical, and highly personalised way.
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