Azernews.Az

By Aygul Salmanova

Many of you have probably encountered pleasant roses with pleasing appearance in the gardens. Nevertheless, it is not widely known that roses, from which various delicacies such as jams, rose water, sweets and other products are prepared, can be a good source of income thanks to the aromatic and healthy oil that is extracted from them.

Over the past two years, the areas of rose cultivation have increased in different regions of Azerbaijan, especially in Zagatala and Balakan. Even during the Soviet times, these regions were famous for floral fragrance production.

The Rose Lubricant Production Plant of AzRose LLC, which is under construction in the down-town Tala village, will begin its production next year. Based on the recommendations of experts invited from Turkey and Bulgaria in October-November last year to meet the demand for raw materials of the enterprise, flowering plants of “Damascus rose” (82 hectares) and “Lavanda” rose (25 hectares) were established in the Lower Tala village of the region.

More than 10 hectares of Lavanda rose plant in this area have already begun to function and flower planting has already been completed. In the next few days, the construction of the Damascus Flower Plant will begin in the additional 68 hectares.

The agronomist of the enterprise Metin Sokmen, a specialist from Turkey, said that the next year, the plant is planning to collect 100 tons of rose petals from the “Damascus Rosalium” bushes planted last year. From these petals production of 30-35 liters of rose oil is projected.

In addition, ten tons of rose petals are expected to be harvested from the Lavender rose plant established last year, from which some 200 liters of rosewater are planned to be produced. Rose oils produced at the enterprise will be exported to foreign markets under the name "AzRose".

It is worth mentioning that in 2016, the price of 1 liter of rose oil in the world market was $12,000-$14,000, and the price of one liter of “Lavender” oil was $118-$153.

Rose oil is widely used in various perfumery, detergents, household and food industries.

The annual production of ten essential oils the most expensive of which is the rose oil worldwide is over 100,000 tons.

It should be noted that about three tons of rose oil is produced in the world, 50 percent of which is manufactured in Turkey, 40 percent is in Bulgaria and 10 percent in other countries.

Some 125 liters of rose oil, to be produced in Azerbaijani company AzRose at the first stage, will make up 5 percent of world production.

The company's products will be exported to the world market in 2018. In the future, the production of essential oils of other plant species will also be possible.

There was a time when Azerbaijan could have locally sourced its own flowers. During the Soviet era, the republic was a major flower producer and the leading supplier of flowers to Russia.

Today, though, Azerbaijan’s floriculture industry has shrunk to a fraction of its former size. The country’s main export markets are Georgia and Russia, and last year it earned a mere $13,700 on the export of 42,000 cut roses to Georgia, and $13,400 on the export of 268,000 carnations to Russia.

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