Natural fragrance materials are not guaranteed: sandalwood, frankincense and tonka

Sandalwood oil output has contracted, frankincense habitat may retreat, and tonka still begins with a gathering economy. Supply starts before the price list.

Natural-material supply is not secured because this year produced a crop. Growth time, harvest damage, moving climate and the livelihood of local gatherers all shape whether the next lot exists before its price reaches a catalogue.

Sandalwood: demand remained while oil output contracted

A 2024 review cites annual Indian sandalwood consumption around 4,000 tonnes. Oil output in the 2004 record was about 70 tonnes, down from 180–200 tonnes over the preceding sixty years. This is a structural supply problem, not one season’s price fluctuation.

The catalogue records the responses: Australian sandalwood, santalol isolates, sandalwood replacers and microbial routes. They are different species and technologies answering a shortage. A buyer must decide whether the formula needs provenance, the complexity of whole oil or a stable sandalwood core.

Frankincense: models are beginning to show habitat retreat

A 2025 geospatial study of Boswellia serrata in eastern India estimated about 16,348 square kilometres of suitable habitat in the study area and projected an overall decline of roughly 9% by 2060, with possible local disappearance in part of the region.

One region and one species cannot stand for the entire frankincense trade. That is precisely why the botanical name matters: frankincense covers several Boswellia species. The frankincense guide tells the key-odorant story; sourcing records should retain species and origin.

Tonka: the supply chain begins with gatherers

Sousa and colleagues described Dipteryx odorata and D. punctata as Amazonian species traded by gatherers for coumarin. Costs begin with fruiting, collection, drying and local exchange, not at a distributor’s door.

The study also examined shells and endocarps as possible resources. That raises a useful resource-efficiency question, but one paper does not certify a supply chain as sustainable. Traceability, harvesting practice and a supplier’s ability to identify the species still matter.

Substitute is not a dirty word

An alternative may be another plant species, a reconstruction base, an isolated odorant or a biomanufactured route. Whole naturals provide complexity and variation; reconstructions offer consistency; isolates preserve one part of the smell; fermentation may produce the same main molecule while leaving product impurities and labelling to separate assessment.

Record botanical name, origin, plant part, lot and fallback. A notebook containing only sandalwood, frankincense and tonka cannot reconstruct a purchasing decision when supply changes.

References

X. Yan et al., Biological properties of sandalwood oil and microbial synthesis of its major sesquiterpenoids, Biomolecules, 14(8), 971 (2024). PMID 39199359

R. Kumar & S. Tiwari, Geospatial analysis of impact of climate change on potential habitat of Boswellia serrata in Eastern India, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 197(7), 720 (2025). PMID 40457122

B. C. M. Sousa et al., Identification of Coumarins and Antimicrobial Potential of Ethanolic Extracts of Dipteryx odorata and Dipteryx punctata, Molecules, 27(18), 5837 (2022). PMID 36144574