Tarlac town goes global with ylang-ylang essential oil

Although the smallest town of Tarlac, Anao is set to hit the big time — the global market for essential oils.

The fact is the ylang-ylang essential oil produced in the 2,500-hectare municipality will be exhibited at the Center for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) in the Netherlands next month.

Anao’s participation in the CBI Expo Seminar was confirmed recently by CBI consultant Andrew Jones, as reported by Belen Bisana of the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI).

Bisana headed the FPRDI research team which designed the improved essential oil extractor for the Anao Ylang-ylang Multipurpose Cooperative.

She said, "The Anao ylang-ylang oil is now accepted in the world market, having received a satisfactory rating from the Second Technical Mission of the CBI Export Development Program for Natural Ingredients for Pharmaceutical and Cosmetics. Aside from the oil quality, the mission also assessed the essential oil extractor and the extraction process."

Anao is home to 10,000 ylang-ylang trees planted in public and private lands. In this small town, the essential oil business is everybody’s business.

The Anao municipal government thought of the livelihood program in 1989 and donated lands while the people planted and took care of the trees, harvested the flowers, and sold them to the cooperative that ran the oil extraction machine.

Bioessence, a Manila-based personal care products company, buys the oil. At present, it serves as the cooperative’s marketing agent with CBI.

Rizalina Araral of the FPRDI reported that the improved extractor’s design done by the institute last year increased net profit by P1,300 per batch of flowers processed.

It also reduced the machine’s fuel and water consumption, made the loading of flowers easier and safer, and increased oil yield.

"Passing the CBI standards smells sweet to the people of Anao. It brings them a step closer to their dream of conquering foreign markets with the fragrance of their home-grown oil," Araral said.