By now, I’m sure this is something many of you have realized when looking up essential oils (or absolute oils) to try. The pricing is either really low, really high, or sometimes in between- it can be sporadic!
Depending on what oils you are looking for, the pricing usually depends on two factors:
- Supply/Demand
- How much oil you can yield from the plant material
There are a few different ways essential oils are harvested (steam distillation being the most common), however certain plant species do not yield as much essential oils as others.
For example, Rose essential oil is the most expensive oil on the market. To harvest rose essential oil, it takes about 60 roses to create one drop of rose essential oil through steam distillation.
Steam distillation is when the aromatic element is separated from the plant material by boiling the plant material. Compared to alcohol distillation to create an 'absolute' oil, steam distillation will not produce as much oil of the harvested plants.
The difference between absolutes and essential oils tend to be a stronger fragrance as well as a darker color in the absolute oils.
As depicted below, the Rose absolute oil is a darker color with a thicker consistency, compared to the Rose essential oil, which has a lighter color and a water-like consistency.
On average, you can expect to pay around $600 per 1 fl oz of genuine Rose essential oil. Depending on the market fluctuation and environmental conditions, this price can change.
The pricing for oils such as Rose Absolute and Rose essential can be too expensive for many, which is why we offer a variety of prediluted oils available to our customers.
These oils are diluted with a carrier oil such as jojoba to make even the priciest essential oils more accessible to all!
Overall, essential oils can vary in pricing depending on the supply and demand chain for that specific oil. Some plants do not contain as much essential oil as others do, which the pricing often reflects.