THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS - IFEAT

This volume could be increased since only about 10% of the available leaf is used for oil extraction.Most leaf is used for fertiliser since the relatively low prices does not encourage the farmers to use itfor oil production.Export of other oils are much smaller but have shown an upward trend in recent years. Thus, exportsof pepper oil are growing and it is anticipated that this will continue with India being the dominantmarket. Nutmeg oil exports are growing; the crop is growing and has not suffered from any diseaseproblems or low productivity. The export volume can definitely increase since there are 600 – 800 ofnutmeg available and only about half of it is used for distillation. Cardamom oil exports are small butgrowing, especially organic oil, but Sri Lanka cannot compete with Guatemala with regard toconventional cardamom oil. Citronella oil exports are growing slowly but the major problem is thefluctuating prices, which make it difficult to induce farmers to grow the crop and produce the oil.Cinnamon bark oil is relatively stable but there has been a growing demand for the spice, especiallyfrom Latin America for culinary purposes. This is likely to grow further especially for organic oil.Exports of clove oil have been increasing recently and the dominant market is India.The export destination of the essential oils is illustrated in the following table, which shows thedomination of the USA, EU and Indian markets. In recent years India has become a much moreimportant market for Sri Lankan oils.!!!"#$%&'()*+"*$+)&$,&())(+*"-&$.-)&/&0122&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"#$$%&'$!()%*!'#(!345&6&37&6&8%"+9(&6&:+'."&6&;(%! +! :!124