Turkish Rose Products - Update II

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

This morning the distillers shipped my 1,200 kilos of Rose Hydrosol from

Isparta to me here in Ankara .. should arrive tomorrow morning. This is

the first year since 1996 I have been unable to get all I wanted .. I

was lucky to get what I got as some of that came from stocks that had

been promised to other sources even prior to harvest/distillation. I

think I helped to create markets that didn't previously exist .. and a

new market has sprung up here in Turkey .. a large pastry company has

been created that will offer many products made with Rose Hydrosol.

 

Costs are known now .. Rose Hydrosol increased 114% from last year.

Rose Otto will cost me 60% more this year .. direct from the still.

 

The last two years the supply of Rose Otto ran out prior to the new

harvest/distillation. This has been the norm in Bulgaria for years as

they produce far less than does Turkey .. but its new for Turkey.

 

In truth, I have been expecting this for the last three years. I know

the cost of Rose Blossoms .. what the stills pay the farmers. Profit

margin on Rose Otto has always been low .. but volume of sales was high.

And .. by law, Associations don't make a lot of profit .. they pay for

their own operation, keep farmers employed and return Value Added Taxes

to the government. The salvation is that they are not otherwise taxed.

 

Two years ago the distillers were paying a tad less than $1 per kilo for

Rose Blossoms delivered to the still .. and getting a kilo of Rose Otto

from 3,800 to 3,900 kilos of Rose Blossoms .. the yield depended on a

number of factors. Last year the cost exceeded $1 and this year the

cost exceeded $1.50. These costs are in Turkish Lira. In the past the

exchange rate for the US Dollar kept ahead of inflation. That has not

been the case for the past two years .. and its one of the reasons I am

closing down my company in Turkey .. overhead costs have increased by

more than 100% in the past two years.

 

The Association .. like me .. made more profit selling a half kilo than

they did a kilo. Unlike me, they were not in a position to offer direct

sales of 25 grams or so .. which is really how we stay in the black.

Now the Association has opened a super-nice shop in Isparta and buyers

can walk in and purchase 25 grams or so .. but there is a 17% Value

Added Tax to that .. a tax which we can avoid by exporting.

 

Though every distiller/grower in Turkey is not a member of the Rose

Growers Association, most of them are (over 7,000 members .. counting

the small farmers) .. and prices released by the Association drives the

prices of non-members. In fact, some none-members used to buy Rose

Otto from the Association and market it as their product. Those days

are gone also. Nobody is trying to undercut anyone .. its dumb to do

that when you know you will sell all the product you can produce.

 

This applies not among the Turkish producers but also among Turks and

Bulgarians. They both know they have the hammer and they both know they

will sell all their products .. there will be no " bargaining " regardless

of who one knows. In the past, the Association has really not charged

what they should/could and I get vibes that the General Director and

Chairman of the Board feel like their positions are in jeopardy .. so

they're fixing it this year .. like good businessmen.

 

Anyway .. that's the bottom line and it won't get better this year or in

the future. I can remember when gasoline was 17 cents a gallons during

price wars .. and even in the late 1990s we could find it for 82 cents

in Georgia. All of this is history .. just like inexpensive pure Rose

products are history.

 

As for Rose Wax .. many of you have asked for this. I don't have a cost

on it yet and I'm not really sure I will be able to get it at all. The

Association does not produce Absolute .. just Concrete .. so they have

no Rose Wax. The two French firms here ship theirs to France. The only

Absolute producer in Turkey is playing his cards close to his chest now

because he has been contacted by a couple of firms wanting Rose Wax. No

doubt in my mind it will go to the highest bidder. The demand for Rose

Wax brings to mind Urea .. years ago it was dumped .. now it has become

a major item of international trade. Rose Wax was dumped before too ..

but now many of the soap and cosmetics makers want it.

 

For end-users this is not really that big of a problem. A drop of Rose

Otto goes a long way .. I keep 1 gram bottle in my pocket year around

and it usually lasts me a year. Though the price increase might bother

some resellers initially, it will not be that much of a problem either.

True it is that they, like me, will have to raise their prices .. but

because this will be the case across the board, they have no need to be

concerned about being higher priced than their competition.

 

For now .. the retail prices shown at http://www.AV-AT.com/prices.html

will apply. But they will be adjusted in the next 7 days or so because

I have only 120 ml or so of Rose Otto in stock and my next order will

cost me 60% more.

 

The wholesale prices shown on my site are not valid and I couldn't fill

an order if they were as we are (for the first time ever) out of stock.

 

For those of you who are on Back Order for Rose Hydrosol .. when it hits

Maryland .. hopefully by the 1st of August .. I will contact you and

advise of the new prices. You can then make a decision if you want to

order or cancel. The present gallon price of $41.97 is no more. :-(

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com