Malawi essential oils enter export market

Malawi has a huge opportunity to venture into big scale exports of essential oils due to their demand in Europe and South Africa, Ministry of Industry and Trade has said.

Essential oils are natural and have numerous health benefits, according to experts. All good-smelling products such as cosmetics, creams and some foods, contain small quantities of essential oils.

Ministry of Industry and Trade spokesperson Wiskes Mkombezi has since urged local investors to venture into the essential oils industry, saying it is lucrative and markets are unexploited.

Currently, Malawi has one company in the Viphya Plantations in Mzimba that extracts essential oils from tree leaves and plants through a process called steam distillation.

Kawandama Hills Plantation or Citrefine Plantation Limited is engaged in the extraction of essential oils and its director, Tanya Clarke, said there is a huge market for essential oils in South Africa and Europe.

Speaking in an interview on Thursday, she said their target is to export six tonnes annually of lemon eucalyptus oil this year to South Africa and some countries in Europe.

Clarke said currently, production is low because the plantation is at its development stage, but will reach its full capacity of 50 tonnes per annum.

She said the company, which started in 2009, aims to diversify from tobacco, the country’s main export crop, which contributes about 60 percent to foreign exchange earnings and 13 percent to gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic growth.

Clarke said the plantation has 915 hectares of its primary tree species of between one and four years old and aims to expand to around 2 000 hectares by incorporating out-growers.

She said the company is currently facing a number of challenges ranging from power failure to poor road network which makes Malawi not an easy place to do business.

“We have no access to power and a significant amount of our budget is spent on fuel for power generation. We would achieve profitability much quicker if this was in place and save valuable funding but this is not the case,” said Clarke.

She said the private sector needs help and more support as it tries to do things legitimately.

The company, which also has out-grower schemes, employs 200 people.

Malawi Government, through the Department of Forestry, recently granted the company the first sustainable charcoal licence.

The essential oil industry is a multi-million dollar industry worldwide and has great potential as certain plants or tree species are suitable for certain climates and altitudes.