This year, Bulgaria retains its position as a world leader in the production and export of lavender oil. This is what Nikolina Uzunova - Executive Director of the Bulgarian National Association "Essential Oils, Perfumery and Cosmetics" said.

"This year also continued the trend towards increasing lavender growing areas, and the interest in this culture is even strong in Northern Bulgaria. Until a few years ago, this area was not associated with essential oil crops in general and lavender in particular. The increased dimensions of lavender areas, of course, have affected the amount of lavenderoil that was produced this year. The number of distilleries in which the oil is processed is increased, and there are also a few in Northern Bulgaria. So in this line of thought 2017th is a good year for lavender production'', Uzunova further said.

In her words, interest in lavender oil has increased in the past few years, which has led to more Bulgarian farmers turning to this raw material.

"For the past years we have been a leading manufacturer as a quantity of lavender oilproduced, and our main competitor in quality is France. But anyway, most essential oils are currently being used in the cosmetics industry and aromatherapy. And in this line of thought, Europe is our main client. Among the European countries where the highest quantities of essential oils are produced are Germany, France and England. And this is no accident, as these are the countries with the most developed cosmetics industry and there are the world's largest wholesalers of essential oils. North America is also a destination in which aromatherapy flourishes and more and more essential oils are exported there'', she explained, adding that the traditional market for Bulgaria is Japan and China, where the quantities of exported essential oils increase each year.