Narrator: This is one of the most
expensive woods in the world,
but it's really one portion of a sandalwood log
that makes it so valuable.
To get to it, these men tirelessly chop away
the lighter outer layer of sapwood
until they're left with this:
the dark inner core
that makes a kilogram of Indian sandalwood cost $200 today.
This is where sandalwood's unique fragrance comes from.
And when it's distilled,
it's used in all kinds of products,
from bath soaps to luxury-brand perfumes.
So what makes sandalwood's aroma so special?
And is that why the wood is so expensive?
Native to South India, Santalum album, or Indian sandalwood,
was used for hundreds of years
before becoming a go-to scent for expensive perfumes.
Today, it's used for wood carvings and medicine,
and it's even considered a sacred tree in several religions.
Once distilled, sandalwood's sweet, woodsy aroma
retains its scent for decades.
Narrator: After harvesting,
the forestry department sells sandalwood at auction
to factories like this one in Mysore.
Narrator: Hollow heartwood logs
are classified as jajpokel,
one of the 18 classes of Indian sandalwood.
Factories can purchase pure heartwood, like jajpokel,
or raw sandalwood logs.
But if they buy the raw wood,
they'll need to break down each log themselves.
Although a machine helps split sandalwood
into more manageable pieces,
stripping the logs down to their heartwood core
requires the effort of several employees.
Narrator: In a physically demanding process,
these men chop each log to remove the sapwood,
the nonfragrant portion of sandalwood.
Narrator: Pure heartwood is the most valuable class
of sandalwood.
In some trees, pure heartwood is easier to extract
because it forms in one circle at the center.
In other trees, the heartwood mixes together with sapwood,
which impacts the final value of the oil.
Narrator: After employees have gathered all they can,
a machine breaks down the strips of wood into chips.
Employees do a sift through these chips
to grab any leftover pieces of usable heartwood.
Then a separate machine turns those chips into powder.
Now distillation can begin.
The process is long,
and it starts with injecting steam into distillation stills.
After the oil is extracted,
all that's left are these giant mounds of powder.
But even with most of the oil gone,
some of the scent still lingers.
Rather than going to waste,
it's used to make incense sticks
and dhoop, a common form of incense in India
used during religious rituals.
During the final stages,
workers separate the oil from water
and purify it until they're left
with a totally clean tank of sandalwood oil.
It takes Mahadeva's team about a week
to distill 1 metric ton of oil.
Tanks of the purified oil are sent to a lab in Bengaluru.
Here, researchers test each batch for quality.
They smell samples of the oil
to confirm the aroma is consistent across batches.
Sandalwood's unique and long-lasting scent
makes it compatible with a wide range of other fragrances,
which is why it's an ideal base for perfume.
Narrator: After the oil is tested,
it heads to another factory
where it will be used to make soap
for Karnataka Soap and Detergents Limited, or KS&DL.
Chidananda: OK, this is the final finished oil.
It's the color of the oil that the finished-product perfume,
what we are using for Mysore Sandal Soap's fragrance.
Narrator: KS&DL is one of the biggest producers
of sandalwood oil products globally.
Although its primary focus is soap,
the company sells bottles of just sandalwood oil too.
One 10-gram bottle of sandalwood oil
costs 5,500 rupees, or about $74.
Narrator: Compared to 2017,
a kilogram of Indian sandalwood oil can cost double today.
And demand isn't slowing down,
with the market expected to reach
over $165 million by 2027.
Out of roughly 10 sandalwood species,
Indian sandalwood and Australian sandalwood
have the largest commercial value.
The difference is the Indian species
has higher levels of alpha- and beta-santalol,
the components in sandalwood
responsible for its lasting scent
and believed health benefits.
India used to dominate the market for sandalwood oil
and oil-based products.
But in recent years, Australia, which grows both
the Indian and Australian sandalwood species,
has gained significant ground in the market.
Although this might look like a lot of sandalwood,
India's actually facing a supply shortage.
In fact, the supply is so limited
that this sandalwood distillery only operated
for about four months in 2021.
And up until 2002,
it was illegal for private growers to plant sandalwood trees
in the southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.
With only a small amount of government-sanctioned replanting
alongside the overharvesting, India's supply suffered.
And since 2018, the species has been considered vulnerable,
one level above endangered.
Another factor that limits supply and increases the price
is inherent to the way the tree grows.
Older trees tend to yield more oil,
which makes them preferable for oil production.
Growers will typically wait around 20 years
for a tree to mature.
This waiting period doesn't only limit
the quantity of sandalwood,
it also puts the trees at risk.
Narrator: Today, every tree
has to be registered with the government
and can't be harvested or transported without permission.
But even these strict regulations
aren't enough to prevent theft.
According to Hinduism Today,
roughly 2,000 tons of smuggled sandalwood
passed through the black market in 2018.
To successfully grow the trees for decades,
farmers must pay the cost to protect them.
Here in the city of Mysore,
some trees are wrapped in barbed wire.
On top of this threat, harvesting these trees isn't simple.
When a farmer has approval,
a government official must come in person
to uproot the entire tree.
None of the tree should be wasted,
particularly heartwood in the trunk and roots,
since it holds the highest oil content.
In the end, the tree's total oil output isn't much.
Narrator: To replenish some of its trees,
the Karnataka state government
created the Grow More Sandalwood program.
Narrator: But growing trees comes with the cost
of protecting them for decades at a time,
something that likely will still deter farmers.
There are also the permissions
growers need from the government,
which slow down the process.
It's uncertain if programs like this
can return India to its old production levels,
but at a minimum the effort might help
restore some of the country's lost sandalwood supply.