Luxury perfume’s hidden cost: Egypt’s jasmine pickers struggle to survive

For nearly a decade, Wael al-Sayed has harvested jasmine blossoms by night in Shubra Balula, a sleepy town north of Cairo that supplies much of the Egypt’s perfume industry. But rising temperatures has left his baskets lighter, with harvests falling from six kilograms a night to just two or three, according to the AFP.

From June to October, families head into the fields at midnight to hand-pick jasmine which is at peak scent. Increasingly, children join them. Sayed now brings his nine- and ten-year-old to help on the family’s small plot before school. Egypt counts more than four million child laborers, many working in unsafe conditions.

Egypt produces nearly half of the world’s jasmine concrete, the waxy extract used in luxury perfumes. In the 1970s, the country exported 11 tonnes a year; today, output has dropped to 6.5 tonnes. Farmers say extreme heat, pests, and erratic weather are reducing yields and weakening oil quality.

Despite global perfume houses charging thousands of dollars per kilogram, pickers earn just about $2.

In June, pickers launched a strike demanding a $1 per kilogram increase in pay. They only received a boost of $0.20.

Egypt’s currency collapse and inflation have made survival even harder. With climate pressures mounting and little protection, experts warn villages like Shubra Balula may not endure.