Frankincense
Frankincense is the hardened gum resin tapped from Boswellia trees across the Arabian peninsula, the Horn of Africa and India. Incisions in the bark bleed a milky exudate that dries on the trunk into translucent tears ranging from near-colourless through amber to brown. It has been burned as ritual and religious incense for millennia, and it is now equally a raw material for fine fragrance, for boswellic acid extracts used in joint and inflammation supplements, for traditional Ayurvedic and Unani medicine, and for cosmetic and oral care formulation.
Listed frankincense markets
Each line is a grade at a delivery point. Open one for its full specification and terms.
Grades
Frankincense is contracted on species first, then on the origin hand-sort ladder, then on the laboratory split between the resin, gum and volatile oil fractions. Species is the largest single driver of both odour and boswellic acid content, and it cannot be inferred from appearance.
Species as the contracted article
6 grades
| Grade | Definition |
|---|---|
| Boswellia sacraOmani and Yemeni frankincense | Tapped in Dhofar and the Hadhramaut. The classical article and the one the Omani hand-sort ladder is built around. |
| Boswellia carteriiSomali and Somaliland frankincense | Often traded as olibanum. The largest commercial volume. |
| Boswellia frereanaMaydi, or the king of frankincense | A distinct Somali species with a fresh terpene profile, very low gum content and near-total solubility in ethanol. Chewed as a gum and prized in perfumery. |
| Boswellia papyriferaEthiopian and Eritrean frankincense | The tabari or ogaden type, and the dominant material in the industrial and church incense trade. |
| Boswellia serrataIndian frankincense, or salai guggul | The standard source for standardised boswellic acid extracts. |
| Boswellia neglecta and Boswellia rivaeBorena and Ogaden types | Kenyan and southern Ethiopian species, darker and more resinous. |
Hand sortation as the contracted article
9 grades
| Grade | Definition |
|---|---|
| HojariTop hand-sorted Omani tears | Large, clean, translucent tears with a pale to greenish cast, selected whole by hand from the first and later tappings. |
| NajdiSecond Omani sort | Clean tears of smaller size or deeper colour than Hojari, from the interior plateau tapping. |
| ShazriThird Omani sort | Smaller and more mixed tears. |
| Sha’biCommon Omani sort | The everyday incense article, mixed tears with a higher proportion of small pieces. |
| Somali sortationGrade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 and siftings | A parallel hand sort applied to Boswellia carterii and frereana, separating whole clean tears from broken and mixed material. |
| Size sortationSieve aperture in millimetres | Screened at origin. The aperture set is written into the contract, because tear size is priced. |
| Colour and translucencyDeclared, against a retained reference sample | Near-colourless, silver, green cast, amber and brown. Matched to a sealed sample rather than placed on a scale. |
| SiftingsDeclared | Small broken pieces passing the sorting screen. A legitimate contracted article, priced against the tears and never delivered in their place. |
| Dust and powderDeclared, with the mesh | What falls through the finest screen, plus deliberately milled material. Sold to extraction and to incense manufacture. |
Fractions and marker assay
8 grades
| Grade | Definition |
|---|---|
| Resin fractionPercentage by mass | The ethanol-soluble triterpene fraction. Carries the boswellic acids. |
| Gum fractionPercentage by mass | The water-soluble polysaccharide fraction. Boswellia frereana is distinguished by having almost none. |
| Volatile oil contentPercentage by mass | Determined by hydrodistillation. The fraction the fragrance buyer is paying for. |
| Total boswellic acidsPercentage by mass, by high performance liquid chromatography | The named assay for extract and supplement buyers. |
| Acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acidPercentage by mass, by high performance liquid chromatography | The specific marker compound, usually abbreviated AKBA, and the one written into extract contracts. |
| Alpha-pinene, octyl acetate and incensole acetatePercentage of the volatile fraction, by gas chromatography | Volatile markers used to confirm species and origin. |
| Ethanol-soluble extractivePercentage by mass | The classical bench separation between the high-resin and high-gum species. |
| Chromatographic fingerprintFull chromatogram, retained | Compared against a reference for the declared species and origin. |
Purity and contaminants
7 grades
| Grade | Definition |
|---|---|
| Loss on drying, or moisturePercentage by mass, maximum | Determined by oven drying or by the entrainment method. It is the weight the buyer is not paying resin prices for, and it drives caking in the drum. |
| Foreign organic matterPercentage by mass, maximum | Bark, leaf, soil, sand, insect and any plant material other than the named exudate, separated by hand and weighed. |
| Total ashPercentage by mass, maximum | Mineral residue after incineration. |
| Acid-insoluble ashPercentage by mass, maximum | The sand and silica fraction. The classical measure of how the material was collected off the ground. |
| Heavy metalsMilligrams per kilogram, maximum | Lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, against CXS 193. |
| Microbiological limitsColony forming units per gram, maximum, with the pathogen absence criteria | Total viable count, yeasts and moulds, Escherichia coli and Salmonella. Contracted where the material enters food, pharmaceutical or cosmetic manufacture. |
| Pesticide residuesMilligrams per kilogram, maximum | Multi-residue screen against the destination market limits. |
Origin, legality and delivery
7 grades
| Grade | Definition |
|---|---|
| Botanical originDeclared, with the binomial species name | The genus alone is not a specification. Related species yield materially different material and they are priced apart. |
| Wild harvested or cultivatedDeclared | It drives availability, legality documentation and, in several of these articles, the chemistry. |
| Legality and collection permitDeclared, with the permit reference | Export permit, forest concession or community collection agreement. Wild resins move on paperwork and it travels with the lot. |
| CertificationCertificate, with the scheme and the certificate number | Organic, FairWild, Fair for Life or a private buyer standard, named on the contract when it is contracted. |
| PackingDeclared | Jute or polypropylene bags, cartons, fibre drums, steel drums or bulk bags, with the liner specified. Soft resins are contracted with a temperature term because they cold flow. |
| Sampling planDeclared | How many packages are sampled, by whom, and against which retained reference sample. Hand sorted natural material is heterogeneous between bags. |
| Species substitution screenDeclared, by chromatographic comparison | Lower value species are blended into higher value sorts. The fingerprint against a species reference is the check, and it is contracted. |
Grades outside this list trade on request. Send us the contract specification you work to and we will price against it.
Locations
| Country | Region | We trade it as |
|---|---|---|
| Oman | Dhofar, Salalah and the Nejd plateau | Origin |
| Yemen | Hadhramaut, Mahra and Socotra | Origin |
| Somalia | Puntland, Bari and Sanaag | Origin |
| Ethiopia | Tigray, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia and Somali region | Origin |
| Eritrea | Gash-Barka and Anseba | Origin |
| Sudan | Blue Nile and Kordofan | Origin |
| Kenya | Northern and eastern rangelands | Origin |
| India | Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh | Origin and destination |
| Saudi Arabia | Jeddah, Riyadh and the Asir highlands | Origin and destination |
| United Arab Emirates | Dubai and Sharjah | Destination |
| Oman | Muscat | Destination |
| Kuwait | Kuwait City | Destination |
| Qatar | Doha | Destination |
| Bahrain | Manama | Destination |
| Egypt | Cairo and Alexandria | Destination |
| Turkey | Istanbul and Izmir | Destination |
| France | Grasse and Paris | Destination |
| Germany | Hamburg and Bavaria | Destination |
| United Kingdom | London and the South East | Destination |
| Italy | Milan, Rome and Genoa | Destination |
| Spain | Barcelona and Madrid | Destination |
| Switzerland | Geneva and Basel | Destination |
| Netherlands | Rotterdam and Amsterdam | Destination |
| Poland | Gdansk and Warsaw | Destination |
| Greece | Athens and Thessaloniki | Destination |
| United States | New Jersey, New York, California and Utah | Destination |
| Canada | Ontario and Quebec | Destination |
| China | Guangdong, Shanghai and Yunnan | Destination |
| Japan | Tokyo and Osaka | Destination |
| South Korea | Seoul | Destination |
| Singapore | Singapore | Destination |
| Australia | New South Wales and Victoria | Destination |
| Brazil | Sao Paulo | Destination |
| Mexico | Mexico City | Destination |
Origins and destinations outside this list trade on request. We are not limited to the locations shown here.
Timing
Harvest is when the material is tapped or gathered at origin. Arrival is when a shipment from that origin typically lands in a consuming market. The gap between them is drying, hand sorting, grading, laboratory clearance and the voyage.
HarvestArrival
| Origin | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | Window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oman | Arrival | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest Apr to Sep, arrival Aug to JanTapping runs through the hot months, with the tree cut repeatedly and the resin left to harden on the trunk for two to three weeks between collections. Hand sorting into the Hojari ladder adds further weeks. | ||
| Somalia | Arrival | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest Mar to Oct, arrival Jun to JanTwo tapping seasons in most years, split by the rains. Material is consolidated at Bosaso and moves through Gulf ports. | |
| Ethiopia | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest Oct to May, arrival Jan to AugThe dry season tapping window from after the main rains, with Boswellia papyrifera collection concentrated in Tigray and the western lowlands. | |
| Eritrea | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest Oct to Mar, arrival Jan to JunSame dry season pattern as northern Ethiopia, moving out through Massawa. | |||
| Yemen | Arrival | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest Apr to Sep, arrival Aug to JanHadhramaut and Mahra tapping on the Omani pattern, with logistics the binding constraint rather than the crop. | ||
| Sudan | Harvest | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest Nov to Apr, arrival Feb to JulDry season tapping in the Blue Nile and Kordofan belts, consolidated at Port Sudan. | |||
| India | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest Nov to May, arrival Jan to JulBoswellia serrata tapping runs in the cool dry season ahead of the monsoon, largely feeding domestic extract manufacture. | |||
| Kenya | Harvest | Harvest | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest | Harvest | Harvest and arrival | Harvest and arrival | Arrival | Arrival | Harvest Jan to Sep, arrival Mar to NovTwo dry windows either side of the long rains, from the northern and eastern rangelands. |
Windows outside this pattern trade on request, including carry, forward positions and stock already sitting in a destination warehouse.
Customs, packing and contract terms
Indicative terms for frankincense. Tariff classification is the importer’s responsibility and limits change, so confirm both against the destination customs authority and the current regulation before you fix a contract.
- HS heading1301.90 Natural gums, resins and oleoresins, other, including frankincense (olibanum)
- PackingJute or PP bags of 25 kg to 50 kg for tears and lumps, fibre drums or lined cartons for hand sorted and graded material, steel drums for rosin and oleoresins.
- Container loading20ft: 12 t to 20 t depending on grade and bulk density. Hand sorted grades ship light.
- Contract and arbitrationSale on the sorted grade with a retained sealed sample and a certificate of analysis. European trade on the terms of the importing association, arbitration under ICC rules or at the contract seat.
- Destination limitsEU food additive specifications under Regulation 231/2012 where the gum is an additive, covering E414 gum arabic, E413 tragacanth and E904 shellac. Pesticide and heavy metal limits, EU REACH for technical grades, phytosanitary certification, and CITES where the botanical source is a listed species.
Common questions
What grades of frankincense does SIP Global trade?
We quote 37 published grades of frankincense, including Boswellia sacra - Omani and Yemeni frankincense, Boswellia carterii - Somali and Somaliland frankincense, Boswellia frereana - Maydi, or the king of frankincense, Boswellia papyrifera - Ethiopian and Eritrean frankincense, Boswellia serrata - Indian frankincense, or salai guggul and Boswellia neglecta and Boswellia rivae - Borena and Ogaden types. Every grade is tied to a delivery point and a settlement route. Grades outside the published list are priced on request.
How is frankincense graded?
Frankincense is contracted on species first, then on the origin hand-sort ladder, then on the laboratory split between the resin, gum and volatile oil fractions. Species is the largest single driver of both odour and boswellic acid content, and it cannot be inferred from appearance. Grading runs on 5 systems: Species as the contracted article, Hand sortation as the contracted article, Fractions and marker assay, Purity and contaminants and Origin, legality and delivery.
Where does SIP Global trade frankincense?
We trade frankincense in Oman, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya and India and 26 further markets. Origins and destinations outside this list trade on request. We are not limited to the locations shown.
When is frankincense harvested and when does it arrive?
Typical windows are Oman: harvest apr to sep, arrival aug to jan; Somalia: harvest mar to oct, arrival jun to jan; Ethiopia: harvest oct to may, arrival jan to aug; Eritrea: harvest oct to mar, arrival jan to jun; Yemen: harvest apr to sep, arrival aug to jan. Harvest is when the lot is taken at origin, arrival is when a shipment from that origin lands in a consuming market. Windows outside this pattern, including carry, trade on request.
What is the HS code for frankincense?
Frankincense is normally classified under HS 1301.90 (natural gums, resins and oleoresins, other, including frankincense (olibanum)). The heading follows the form the goods are in at the border, and national tariffs extend it beyond six digits, so confirm the full line with the destination customs authority before you fix a contract.
How do I get a price for frankincense?
Send the grade, the origin and the delivery window to the SIP Global desk. That is enough for a trader to come back with a level and a settlement route. 1 listed frankincense market is published on this page, each with its full specification and terms. We take both sides, physical and financial, prompt to long dated.
Standards and data sources
The grading language on this sheet follows published standards. Trade volumes and tariff lines are public record. Verify anything here against the source.
- Codex AlimentariusFAO and WHO food standards
- UN ComtradeOfficial international trade statistics by HS code
- ITC Trade MapBilateral trade flows and tariff data
- FAOSTATFAO production and trade series for agricultural commodities
Price this with our desk
Grade, origin and window if you have them. If what you are carrying does not fit the sheet above, describe it in your own words and a trader will take it from there.