Conserving Musk Deer the Uses of Musk and Europe's Role in its Trade (pdf, 360 kb)

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in Russia recorded a price of approximately US$16-22/g in 1997 for a shipment of musk from Russia to

Germany (Russian Customs Service Agents, in litt., 1998).  Demand appears to continue to rise, but the

current financial and economic crisis in East Asia could reduce the future demand for musk. 

Table 11 

Prices for one gramme of musk at different stages of trade in early 1998

Source: TRAFFIC International (1994); Alexander Kulikov, pers. comm., December 1998; middlemen in

Germany and Switzerland, pers. comms, March 1998; perfume manufacturers in Germany, pers. comms,

April 1998 and Fomenko (in litt., 1997).

Manufacturers and companies in the perfume industry declared that perfume manufacturers buy musk at

up to US$50/g (manufacturers and perfume association personnel, pers. comms, 1998).

In the 1970s and 1980s, the market price for musk in China was very low by comparison with the price in

other countries (Green, 1989).  In 1979, it stood at just US$3.86/g.  In countries of the Himalayan region,

it reached US$15.38/g at the same time, and Japanese import statistics indicated that the price on the inter-

national market was around US$24/g for musk pod and US$45/g  for granular musk (i.e. extracted contents

of musk pods) (Green, 1989).  In India, the price was recently about US$22/g (Asadi, 1996).

THE USES OF MUSK

Use in the perfume and aromatic substance industry

Musk fragrance: historical use

As far back as prehistoric times perfume was probably used predominantly as a sacrificial offering to pay

homage to the gods.  The very word “perfume”, from “per fumum”, indicates the activity of burning certain

drugs and fragrant resins (Pilz, 1997).  Musk is known to have been used in medicine and as a fragrance

since 3500 BC.  The musk scent was thought to have been used in the early civilisations of ancient China

and ancient India in ritual purposes (Pilz, 1997).  Certainly, the range of fragrances in ancient China

extended from the powerful odour of musk to the gentle fragrance of rose water, the former perfume

assigned to the sphere of sensual desires, the latter an embodiment of the spiritual ideal.  By the eighth

century AD, during the Tang dynasty in China, musk had become so fashionable that one minister had the

scent applied to the walls of his pavilion (Green and Taylor, 1986).  Musk perfume was also known to the

Carthaginians and Phoenicians.  In the tenth century AD musk was among the five most important compo-

nents of perfume of the contemporary Arab world.  The Arabs brought musk to the Middle East where they

mixed the scent with mortar for use in the construction of mosques, for example at Kara Amed and Tabriz,

in Iran. 

The first mention of musk in Europe is attributed to St. Jerome in the year 390 AD.  The first written

reference, in which mention is made of boxes for storing musk, dates from 1398 and can today be found

in the British Museum in London.  The use of musk is also known from the scent jars which, in the

Raw musk purchase source

Price in US$

Price increase per stage

From hunter in Russia

2-3

From middlemen in Russia

7-8

about 150%

From middlemen in Europe and South Korea

12-14 in 1997, up to 22

about 100% - 200%

For use in the European perfume industry

up to 50

over 200%

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fifteenth century, were used in hospital rooms to combat epidemics like cholera and plague (Pilz, 1997).

In Tudor England, musk was added to sweetmeats and medicines in order to drive away melancholy and

by the nineteenth century courtesans in Paris carried bags of musk between their breasts in order to conceal

the body’s natural odour as well as to enhance it (Green and Taylor, 1986).  In the Renaissance period,

Italy led the way in the manufacture of perfume, but later the main centre of manufacturing shifted to

France and, in particular, to the region around Grasse (Müller, 1991).  Compared with other places in

Europe, the skilled art of perfume manufacturing was highly developed in the south of France, and Grasse,

situated close to Marseilles, occupies a location which at that time was favourable for the trade in oriental

merchandise such as musk. 

Natural musk is prized for the intensity and

endurance of its aroma and for its fixative

properties.  The generally low-strength alcoholic

infusions, matured over long periods, produced

from dried and pulverised musk glands, lend

themselves to the making of perfumes charac-

terised by the industry as having “warmth”,

“elegance” and “radiance” (Pilz, 1997).  In the

manufacturing of aromatic substances, musk is

employed not only as a perfume but also as a

fixative for other fragrances (Perry, 1925, in

Green, 1989).  It is to these dual properties that

musk owes its popularity in perfumes.  Its rarity

and high price presented an incentive for

replacing natural musk with synthetic products

long before the conservation of musk deer species

became a concern.  As early as 1759, nitration

experiments with amber oil produced musk-like

perfumes.  Synthetically manufactured musk

compounds since then have succeeded in imitating

the characteristics of natural musk more and more

closely.  

Musk in the present-day perfume industry of Europe

In Europe, there are well over 100 companies that operate in the perfume industry

. 

The market is

becoming increasingly international and many companies operate throughout Europe or worldwide.  By

virtue of long tradition, however, a particularly large number of these firms is based in France.  In Grasse

alone, there are about 30 French and foreign companies working on the production of aromatic substances

(spokesman for perfume-producing company, pers. comm., May 1998).  The boundaries between perfume

manufacturers working on the composition of perfume constituents and those creating and marketing the

end-product are fluid. 

Because of the price and chemical structure of natural musk, the substance is used only in perfumes and

eaux de toilette with alcohol as a solvent, (spokesmen for perfumeries, pers. comm., April 1998).  In

perfumed products such as cosmetics, personal hygiene preparations, shampoos, detergents, etc., only

synthetic musk is used, and never natural musk.  Where natural musk is used, the perfume tinctures contain

between 0.5% and 5% musk in an alcohol solution, according to information from perfumeries and

manufacturers of perfume oils which incorporate the substance (spokesman for perfume-producing

company, pers. comm., April 1998).  Such tinctures have to mature for a number of months, at least, before

they can be mixed in perfumes.

French glass perfume phial with enclosed cameo

- Baccarat, circa 1860

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