Known in commerce as East Indian sandalwood, sandalwood has two primary uses: extraction of an essential oil (sandal oil), and as a source of wood for carving. Production is based almost entirely on wild populations.
Trade
Where can buy Sandalwood powder?Where central industry of sandalwood?
Where I can looking Sandalwood buyer?
that some of questions of beginning of sandalwood business / farmer.
India and Indonesia are the two major producers and exporters, although it is not known exactly how much is exported or is used within the country of origin because much of the trade remains unrecorded. The United States and France are the two largest importers
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| Image: Sandalwood essential oil is produced from the wood chips. |
Trees tend to grow very slowly, gradually developing a core of heartwood. The environment has an effect on the quality of the wood and oil. Trees on mountainous, rocky and dry soils develop the hardest wood with the greatest oil content. The darker the wood, the higher the oil content. The highly prized marks, called birds' eyes, have a very high oil content are the result of damage to the wood.
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Root wood as well as stem and branch wood is used. In India, trees above 60 cm girth are harvested during the post-monsoon period. In areas affected by disease, only dead and dying trees are harvested. Harvesting is done by uprooting trees, although wood used for carving often comes from trimmings. Sandalwood trees coppice well when young and damaged roots can produce lots of new shoots.
Harvested wood is cut into billets which are then transported to a central depot. The heartwood of the trunk, main branches and roots is used in essential oil distillation. The sapwood is used for carving.
The wood is sold under a number of classes. They are classified according to size into 1st, 2nd and 3rd class billets from the stem, and primarily into three classes of root wood and two of branch wood. There are also classes for short, irregular pieces, chips and sawdust. The latter fetches a relatively high price. Sandalwood is much prized as a wood. In India, the sapwood is used for wood turning, particularly toy making.
Essential oil
For essential oil production, the billets of wood are chipped and ground to a powder. Most sandalwood oil is now produced by steam distillation of the powder. The oil content increases and is of a better quality in older trees. The oil is then sold to the end user for fragrances and perfumes. Exhausted sandalwood powder left over after distillation is used in the incense industry.Sandalwood - what's in a name?Many species can be traded under the term 'sandalwood'. Traders can get lost in the complex world of plant names, and there are very few checks to help confirm what species they are dealing with. Sandalwood in tradeThe oil from sandalwood (Santalum album) is widely used in the cosmetic industry and is expensive. The high cost is partly because it is in short supply. The true sandalwood tree cannot meet demand. Many species of plants are traded under the term 'sandalwood'. Within the genus Santalum alone there are more than 19 species that could be labelled sandalwood. Traders will often accept oil from closely related species such as Santalum spicatum or Santalum austrocaledonicum. On other occasions traders do not truly know where the oil has come from as species from different plant families may also be called 'sandalwood'. Species in other plant families that may be traded as sandalwood include oil from Amyris balsamifera from the family Rutaceae. IdentificationTo assist traders to identify the many species that are entering the trade, scientists have developed chemical tests. These identify the unique 'chemical fingerprints' each plant has. These fingerprints can also be used to spot samples of natural sandalwoods that have been illegally spiked with synthetic compounds like Sandalore, or other oils such as castor oil or cedarwood oil.Sandalwood - conservationThe conservation status of sandalwood in India is not good. Overharvesting and deforestation have led to a serious decline in wild populations. The plants are in danger of extinction and there still seems to be little control over illegal logging and the government is not providing enough support for the establishment of plantations. Population declineThis has led to a decline in the total quantity of sandalwood extracted and a loss in traditional skills. Despite the pressure, there is little or no quantitative information available on which to judge the extent of destruction.
Australia, on the other hand, has established sandalwood plantations which may take over the world market. Australian plantations are of the western Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum). Hawaii, Fiji and Indonesia are also exporters in the sandalwood trade. Sandalwood trees freely produce seed and natural regeneration occurs both via seedlings and vegetatively via the roots. If left to mature, the trees can regenerate fairly quickly. The absence of heartwood in young trees provides little reason for felling trees less than 20-25 years old. However destruction of younger trees does occur and the age of trees that are now harvested has dramatically reduced. This is reflected by the quantities of oil in the wood. In the 1970s, 10 trees could provide 1 ton of sandalwood, but now more than 1000 trees are needed to produce 1 ton of wood. Threat from diseaseThe greatest threat to Indian sandalwood trees may be loss through disease rather than oil production. Trees of all ages and sizes are liable to be infected. These usually die within 3 years.Despite controls, as sandalwood is a source of one of the most valuable oils in the world, it attracts illegal trade and smuggling which is seriously threatening the long-term future of the species. |
