What Has Happened to the Lavender Patchouli Line of Wild Grove Products?

A global shortage of patchouli oil this year has stopped us from being able to source the fragrance along with many other businesses. The supply shortage is a complex situation which has brought major sustainability issues to light. Due to these economic and environmental challenges surrounding the production and sourcing of patchouli oil, we regret to inform you that Wild Grove will be discontinuing the popular fragrance line of Lavender and Patchouli products for the foreseeable future.

The Supply Issue

Indonesia produces the vast majority (80%) of the world’s supply of patchouli and challenges in recent years have resulted in a drop in patchouli production. By nature, patchouli is a picky plant and it requires a delicate balance of sun and rain to thrive. Extreme weather patterns with heavy rainfall and rising temperatures are causing widespread crop failures, leading to lower yields and higher prices.

Meanwhile, farmers have increasingly been switching to more economically prolific crop options that require less effort to produce which is putting additional pressure on the supply.

The Sustainability Issue

As a highly demanding plant, patchouli leaches nutrients from the soil, rapidly decreasing the quality of farmland. Ideally the land would be given time to recover after growing the plant, however economic constraints in Indonesian farming communities has led to the fields being pushed to their limits, degrading the soil quality.

Deforestation to meet the rising demand for patchouli oil has been an unsustainable solution to the supply issue. Forested areas are being cleared to create new patchouli plantations, a common practice driven by trends of the global consumer market.

When Will We Stock Patchouli Again?

Sustainability is deeply ingrained in Wild Grove’s ethos so we put a lot of effort into ensuring that our environmental impact is as low as possible. This means that, even if patchouli supply increases in the future, we will not be producing any products with the fragrance until the underlying environmental issues are resolved.