Turn fruits and herbs into essential oils worth millions per liter

Avocado essential oil worth millions per liter

In early 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic affected her life and work, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho Van (residing in Ward 10, Da Lat City, Lam Dong) stopped her accounting job and started researching and extracting herbal essential oils. She said that Vietnam has many precious herbs, but the processing and extraction of essential oils are not much. Especially, consumers still have to buy and use essential oils mixed with chemicals.

"Having been passionate about essential oil since childhood, I decided to research and learn the production method. By 2021, I had met an expert in this field, and since then, my knowledge of the essential oil extraction industry has been systematized. By 2022, I and two other people had contributed capital to establish a company, expand raw material areas and export processing zones, and bring products to market," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho Van, Director of Kava Vietnam Essential Oil Co., Ltd.

According to Ms. Van, producing essential oil initially encountered many difficulties. Even though there was no market, the unit had to spend billions of dongs to invest in raw material areas and then the extraction system, machinery for testing, bottling, packaging, etc.

Ms. Van shared that Lam Dong and other localities in the Central Highlands have the advantage of growing avocado trees, which are a precious source of raw materials to make essential oil products. Currently, avocado trees are facing market fluctuations. Farmers are facing many difficulties due to the low price of avocados in the main season.

Therefore, Kava Vietnam Essential Oil Co., Ltd. is focusing resources to develop the avocado essential oil product and develop a stronger market to support avocado growers in the Central Highlands. According to Ms. Van, currently each liter of avocado essential oil costs VND 1–1.5 million, and the unit is coordinating with some partners to research and invest in technology to refine and produce higher-end avocado essential oil products, aiming to produce avocado essential oil worth up to VND 10 million/liter.

1 ton of fresh lemongrass equals 1 liter of essential oil

Ms. Van assessed that Vietnam, especially rural and mountainous areas, has many precious herbs with different essential oil contents. Therefore, to create essential oil products of the highest quality, the unit signed a contract with farmers in Thanh Hoa province to develop lemongrass and mugwort raw material areas and a contract with farmers in Lam Dong province to develop raw material areas of ginger, mugwort, eucalyptus, rosemary, perilla, avocado, etc.

In the raw material areas, Ms. Van has invested in a distillation and extraction furnace system to accelerate the production process. According to Ms. Van, in order to produce 1 liter of lemongrass essential oil, this business needs at least 1 ton of fresh lemongrass. Accordingly, after being harvested in the field, lemongrass will go through selection and pre-processing and be moved into the distillation furnace on a charcoal stove within four hours. "After distillation, essential oil products are checked for quality, then bottled and distributed to the market. All essential oils are produced very meticulously and are completely pure," she said.

Currently, Ms. Van's Kava Vietnam Essential Oil Co., Ltd. is producing 12 lines of essential oil products of all kinds, such as lemongrass, rosemary, mint, ginger, perilla, cinnamon, tangerine peel, green-skinned grapefruit peel, and lemongrass essential oils, of which three are used for aromatherapy and therapy. This unit's aromatherapy and massage essential oil products are currently certified as 3-star OCOP products.

In parallel with the production of aromatherapy essential oils, Kava Vietnam Essential Oil Co., Ltd. also signed a cooperation agreement with dozens of farmer households in Lam Dong to develop raw materials and produce avocado essential oil. Since the beginning of the year, the business has purchased 80 tons of avocado from households in Lam Dong province at a price higher than the market price of VND 1,000–2,000/kg to serve production.

For this product line, Ms. Van said that avocado essential oil is used as a base oil for massage with a gentle scent. Currently, each month the unit produces and supplies to the market about 50 liters of avocado essential oil at a price of VND 1–1.5 million/liter.

As of now, this unit's aromatherapy and massage essential oil products have been widely consumed throughout provinces and cities nationwide. This business has also signed product distribution cooperation agreements with many major partners in Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Vung Tau City, Binh Duong, An Giang, and Tay Ninh.

According to Ms. Van, Vietnam is diverse in crops and herbs, and businesses need to have methods to refine and bring products to the world. "Thailand also has rural areas like Vietnam, and they have researched and produced many types of essential oil products, then exported them around the world. In particular, Chinese merchants have bought raw materials (herbs) from Vietnam and then brought them back for production, then sold the essential oil products to Vietnamese people at a price dozens of times higher than the original.

Vietnam is a potential region for herbs, and we are researching, investing in technology, and expanding production scale to bring products to the international market," Ms. Van said. According to her, along with essential oil production, the unit is currently building service areas to experience essential oil steaming and massage in Da Lat, Ho Chi Minh City.