Global Essential Oil as one of the largest essential oil producers in Indonesia took part in the Indonesian Essential Oil Council Forum (translated from KNMA : Konferensi Nasional Minyak Atsiri). The Indonesian essential oil council regularly holds a yearly meeting agenda for essential oil stakeholders in Indonesia to discuss plans for the essential oil industry in the future.

Special Invitation For Attending Indonesian Essential Oil Council Forum 2024

Global Essential Oil received a special invitation from the secretariat of the Indonesian Essential Oil Council, to attend the KNMA (National Conference on Essential Oils) as one of the leading essential oil companies in Indonesia. Global Essential Oil was represented by Agung Milyarto as plant manager to attend the event.

This time, the KNMA (National Conference on Essential Oils) was held in Bogor, West Java with the theme of circular economy in the essential oil industry. The essence of the discussion of the KNMA event this time is about zero waste and circular economic on the essential oil industry in Indonesia. Zero waste, This is a concept where all waste produced during the extraction/distillation process of plants or plants for the production of essential oils can be reprocessed and the waste of production can be have an economic value. 

For example, the remaining results from distilled clove oil leaves can be processed into organic fertilizer. So that this waste can have better economic value and not produce useless waste. In other cases, distilled waste from citronella leaves can be used to feed livestock such as cows and buffalo because it has good benefits for the digestion of these livestock.

Sustainability Of Essential Oils Industry

Apart from that, at the KNMA event (national conference on essential oils) there was also a little mention regarding traditional distillation patterns which cause "deforestation" because many traditional distillers still use firewood as a heater for their distillation equipment. However, at this event there were also many solutions offered, including using electricity to heat distillation equipment, or turning distillation waste into pellets/briquettes which could later be reused as heating fuel for traditional distillation equipment.

Pellets / briquettes from distilled leaf waste are very good and have quite a large amount of heat, so this makes the combustion process more efficient and produces a lot of energy.

At this event, Global Essential Oil also met with other well-known companies from Indonesia, including Van Aroma, Indesso, Ratu Aroma, etc. They took part in discussions regarding the sustainability of the essential oil industry in Indonesia. This is due to the disrupted supply of Indonesian patchouli oil.

Why Patchouli Oil Always Rising Lately?

The results of the Global Essential Oil discussion led to the conclusion that the patchouli oil harvest are failed in 2024. This cause very extreme price fluctuations for patchouli oil in 2024. Apart from that, we also discussed with several large buyers of patchouli oil in various countries. They assume that there will be no substitute or other alternative for patchouli oil in Indonesia for at least the next 5-10 years. This is because the character of Indonesian patchouli oil is very strong and is much liked by the perfume and personal care industries.

Apart from discussing patchouli oil, in this session Global Essential Oil was also heavily involved in discussing the commodity citronella oil, which is also one of Indonesia's leading commodities. In this discussion of citronella oil, we also discuss the use of distillation waste which is a big problem. Because when carrying out the citronella oil production process, a lot of leaf waste is produced. When compared to producing patchouli oil, nutmeg oil or clove oil, the waste produced when making citronella oil is much greater. This is a concern for Global Essential Oil, because apart from the waste which is quite disturbing, we also see that there is actually potential that can be maximized with citronella leaf waste. 

Citronella waste itself can be used as organic fertilizer because it contains very good ingredients to trigger plant growth. However, what is still very unfortunate is that information regarding how to process citronella waste into organic fertilizer itself is still not very effective at the farmer level. This is what makes us, Global Essential Oil, regret this, because farmers can reduce the costs of planting and caring for their plants. This also leads to a reduction in wasted waste.

Apart from that, citronella waste can also be used as animal feed, this has been proven by research conducted by Andalas University, Jember State Polytechnic, and also Prof. Dr. Hazarin University.