jojocare

press release – 12 September 2007

International Debut for New Australian Industry

Australia's new drought resistant agricultural industry has secured domestic and export distribution after the launch of its product range to natural health and beauty practitioners at back to back trade expos in Sydney during August.

Jojoba (pronounced ho-ho-ba) is a liquid golden wax pressed from the bean of the jojoba shrub. Jojoba is the main base carrier for cosmetics, skincare products, hair care products, anti-aging treatments worldwide and is the premium lubricant for massage.

Through 2007 the grower owned marketing company Jojoba Australia developed a range of professional, personal care and industrial packs and established its jojocare brand making Australia the first jojoba producing country to market under a national brand.

Pioneer jojoba producer Daniel Buster from Bourke in NSW said the response of practitioners and overseas buyers to the Sydney trade launch of Australian jojoba has been nothing short of exhilarating.

"We certainly stood out from the crowd at the Sydney International Beauty Expo at Darling Harbour amongst 295 other exhibits of very high tech spa equipment and highly refined and manufactured health, cosmetic and beauty lines. We had jojoba plants, jojoba beans, golden jojoba, jojoba meal, our small pack range and a clear, natural and simple story. The Sydney Natural Therapies and Natural Health Expo then followed on from the Beauty expo and gave us the chance to meet practitioners and students in the health and wellness sectors"

"Visitors were very excited to find that we now have Australian produced jojoba. They expressed real passion for a product that came directly from the land, had nothing whatsoever added and was not processed. They knew a lot about end uses for jojoba as a health and beauty product but did not know know where it came from, or that we were now producing jojoba in Australia."

Jojoba plants were introduced into Australia by the CSIRO in 1978 following research that showed that the golden liquid wax pressed from the jojoba bean had a molecular structure so close to the wax esters in human skin sebum that skin could not recognise the difference. Wax esters in skin sebum are responsible for naturally deep cleansing and moisturising of skin, hair and nails. Jojoba quickly became the main base ingredient worldwide for cosmetics and skin care products.

Following a successful joint plant breeding program by the CSIRO and NSW Agriculture over more than a decade five commercial jojoba plant varieties were released to farmers in WA, SA, Victoria, Queensland and NSW. Twenty two producers established large commercial plantations as part of their mixed farming operations and these are now producing increasing volumes of beans each year.

Commercial jojoba plantations across five States of Australia entered a yield increase phase in 2006 providing encouragement for drought gripped farmers and a valuable new product for the health and beauty sectors here and overseas. In NSW properties at Tamworth, Narrabri, Bourke, Canowindra, Forbes, Condobolin, Hillston, Yenda and Kywong have jojoba plantations, in Queensland at Goondiwindi, in Victoria at Kerang, in South Australia at Parachilna and Swan Reach, and in WA at Kelannie, Wagin, York and Geraldton. The beans from these plantations are cold pressed at Cootamundra in NSW.

Flowers of the female jojoba plants form pods. Beans similar in appearance to coffee beans form inside the pods. When the beans reach maturity the pods split and the beans fall to the ground to dry naturally under the skirt of the plants. Producers drive mechanical sweeper harvesters through the plantations twice each year to collect the beans. These are cold pressed at Cootamundra in NSW to release the golden liquid wax which is antibiotic, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, non allergic and contains natural antioxidants. About 50% of the mass of the bean is the golden liquid wax.

Visitors to both expos were massage therapists, health and beauty practitioners, teaching institutions for the beauty and natural health sectors, Aromatherapists and manufacturers of skin and hair products. At both exhibits practitioners were able to touch the plants, try the jojoba wax and test the jojoba meal by-product.

Daniel Buster said that this was an extremely valuable excercise.

"We watched and listened, and learned so much more about our own products from the visitors. On day one visitors started to rub our jojoba meal on their skin and remark what an outstanding skin scrub it was. By day two, we had turned this by-product which previously had no commercial outlet into two commercial product lines - a body grade scrub and a facial grade scrub. Practitioners are now buying jojoba meal and are using it for those applications and also as a scrub ingredient in herbal soaps. That is an outstanding and unexpected development as it gives value to our only by-product."

Packaged jojoba under the jojocare brand has been marketed online and through mail order since February 2007 but the Sydney expos during August were the first time the industry had put its small pack range before the trade.

Chris Black Marketing and Communication Manager for Jojoba Australia Pty Ltd based at Leeton in NSW said the launch of the Jojocare brand had created a great deal of excitement amongst the massage, naturopathic, beauty, spa and wellness sectors.

"Dozens of practitioners told us that they loved jojoba but they have used it very sparingly as it was so expensive. That is because until now, jojoba has been imported in bulk and resold in very small bottles at very high prices. In formulating the pricing for our local jojoba the Australian industry rejected that path and priced Australian jojoba based on sustainable returns to producers and real costs. That has fundamentally changed the jojoba market in Australia and has made our jojoba affordable for everyone."

"Jojoba is good news all round as producers love to grow it and it has ready markets here and overseas. The response of our customers who are using jojoba for skin and hair care, and to treat many skin conditions tells us the industry has a very bright future, and as jojoba shrubs are drought resistant and can live for perhaps 200-300 years, it is here to stay."

Since the Sydney launch the company has established Distribution for its branded small packs through beauty salons, spa and wellness centres, and training institutions throughout Australia. International Distribution Agreements for the Jojocare brand and jojoba by-products for South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Japan and New Zealand have also been signed during August.

Tianna Ceracchi 17 of Renmark SA is a trainee hairdresser who aims to become a Beauty student when she finishes her apprenticeship. Tiana is a good example of the generation that will drive the future development of the jojoba industry in Australia.

"I have been using jojoba since January this year and I love it. I use it in my bath, after a shower and on my friends and family for shaving and after waxing. It is soothing and it conditions and moisturises skin and hair like nothing I have used. What led me to it was a search for skincare products that were pure, natural and Australian. With jojoba I have found it all in one and I am discovering more and more uses for jojoba all of the time."

Chris Black said this consistent message from young customers was a shot in the arm for Australian producers looking to adapt to hotter and drier inland conditions.

END

Photographs of Chris Black with visitor Beauty Student Maggie Senethep at the Sydney International Beauty Expo, Jojoba producer Daniel Buster, Jojoba plants, plantations, producers, harvesting, jojoba beans, jojoba meal, jojoba wax and Tianna Ceracchi can be downloaded from the Photo Gallery page.