By 2024, the global fragrance market is estimated to be worth about 92 billion U.S. dollars. The production of innumerable products ranging from mundane personal care to rare, luxury perfumes draws in the extracts of thousands of botanical species.

 

One is the oleo-resinous extract of agarwood, Oud Oil. This essential oil cannot be produced synthetically and has moved from being a traditional scent and medicine in the Middle East and China (where it is known as Chénxiāng and used for pain relief) to a base for modern perfume used world-wide. Brands such as Jo Malone London and Tom Ford picked up on the oud trend and began to produce fragrances equally popular in London and New York and Paris.

 

Oud  can be pure agarwood oil. Or a perfume that contains agarwood oil, but most modern fragrances are constructed so that they provide built-in layering: The top, middle, and base notes burn off in succession, like a slow reveal. Oud oil has been recognized as a strong base, and demand is growing while supply from the Far East, including Laos, is limited.

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The rest of this page provides information on the Agarwood/Oud oil industry with which we have been involved for many years.