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About Australian Sandalwood
Internationally sandalwood has been one of the most valued woods for
centuries, prized for its oil and burning properties as well as its medicinal characteristics.
West Australian sandalwood – santalum spicatum - was first found in West Australia as the colony started to break out of Perth and into what we now call the wheatbelt. The first exports began prior to 1840. At that time the exports of sandalwood to Singapore were the major contributor to the colony’s revenue and this continued for some time until agriculture and mining were fully established.
West Australian sandalwood is a desert tree and as a result is much slower growing. The oil has a different, less ‘heady’ aroma and has become the preferred wood for incense manufacturing across Asia.
At the turn of the twentieth century and up to the early 1920’s the State was exporting up to 20,000 tonnes each year to Hong Kong, Singapore and China which over-harvested the resource. However by the end of the 1920s the market had collapsed due to political changes in China and the West Australian government had little option but to take ownership of the industry. In 1929, the State passed the WA Sandalwood Act which made all Sandalwood the property of the State and introduced management plans to ensure the survival of the species and the industry.
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During the period 1930 to 1990 the industry continued successfully and built a strong client base throughout Asia but this was based on the export of raw wood products with little local adding value. However, during the mid 1990s the management of processing and marketing sandalwood changed and with that change came the introduction of local value adding. Today, 30% of the harvest is processed into added value products here in WA and a further 55% of exports are new sandalwood powder products. Today, West Australia exports around 2,000 tonnes of sandalwood wood and powder products to customers in 9 countries throughout Asia and demand continues to increase. Demand will continue to be greater than supply due to the poor management of Sandalwood reserves in India, Indonesia and Polynesia which have seen the stocks deplete rapidly due to stealing and over harvesting.
West Australia’s industry is under the careful management of the Forest Products Commission (a State Government department) who is responsible for ensuring the sustainability of the industry by continued planting of seeds, managing the harvest levels and methodology, encouraging plantation programs and gaining the maximum return for the state from this valusable asset. As a result of this careful management the West Australian industry will become the world’s leading and consistent supplier of sandalwood during the next few years and in the foreseeable future.
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