TARNICHANE, Bulgaria (AFP) — Bulgaria's rose oil industry, supplier to some of the world's leading perfume makers, has emerged from years of post-communist neglect only to find itself with a new headache -- a labour shortage.
It is 5 am, and the sun has not yet risen over Bulgaria's famous rose valley at the foot of the Balkan mountains. But the air is already thick with the scent of the oil-bearing Rosa Damascena and hundreds of rose pickers are already out in the fields.
The workers must pick only flowers that are in full blossom and now is the best time to do so because this is when the rose essence is at its most concentrated.
By the afternoon, reacting to the strong sun, the precious substance retreats down into the plant's roots, reducing the oil yield.
Petals must also be processed within 24 hours so as to yield the maximum quantity and highest quality rose oil.
"Any full-bloom flower left unpicked today will have shed its petals by tomorrow and be spoiled," explains rose distillery owner, Filip Lissicharov.
His company, Enio Bonchev Production, has four distilleries in the village of Tarnichane in central Bulgaria, including the oldest running rose oil extraction facility in the country, built by his great-great grandfather in 1909.
Enio Bonchev Production is one of Bulgaria's top five exporters of rose oil and also the biggest rose water producer. It supplies fragrance makers all around the world, from the United States to Japan, France and Germany.
Alongside Turkey and Morocco, Bulgaria is traditionally one of the world's leading exporters of rose oil.
But after the fall of communism in 1989 and the country's ensuing transition to a market economy, many rose fields were neglected or uprooted and production shrunk drastically.
However, the industry has recovered in recent years and currently exports up to 1,500 kilogrammes (1.6 tonnes) of pure rose oil a year from 3,200 hectares (8,600 acres) of fields, producers estimate.
While Turkey remains the biggest exporter, Bulgaria's rose oil producers regard their product as the highest quality, its price topping 4,800-5,000 euros (7,400-7,700 dollars) per kilogramme.
"The aromatic and chemical characteristics of the Bulgarian rose oil are different from the Turkish," and fragrance experts say the Bulgarian product is more versatile, says Juliana Ognyanova of rose oil exporting company, Bulattars.
Bulattars exports 200-220 kilogrammes of oil a year, making it one of Bulgaria's top rose oil exporters.
But the industry is finding it difficult to recruit workers, Ognyanova complained.
"Rose gardening is 90-percent manual labour. And finding workers is a major problem. In the past, there were times when there were no roses. Now there are plenty of roses, but nobody to pick them," she said.
Bulattars has 75 hectares of rose gardens in the region of Pavel Banya and Skobelevo in the heart of the rose valley and employs a workforce of at least 600 in May and June, the peak season for rose-picking.
"We employ mainly pensioners and Roma. Young people no longer want to work in the fields and many went to seek seasonal jobs in Greece, Cyprus, Britain, Spain where pay is better," Ognyanova said.
Enio Bonchev Production said it wanted to expand but also had trouble finding enough workers.
"Even if we plant another 10,000 hectares, we still have a limited number of pickers. Even if they work 24 hours a day and grow two more hands, they still won't be enough," Lissicharov said.
At the height of the season, an estimated 35,000 rose pickers are needed throughout the whole valley.
Finding skilled distillation experts is also a problem, said Lissicharov.
"My distillation technologists are a bit like the Last of the Mohicans in the sector," he said. "No matter how much I know about distillation, I can't do without a technologist."
New experts were coming out of university, but they needed at least five years' of hands-on experience, Lissiacharov said.
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