51 Years of Eucalyptus
During the 1950’s, Marc Spraggan, after traveling to Australia and experiencing the eucalyptus oil industry there first hand, decided to start his own production of eucalyptus oil on his farm Goede Hoop. This operation, in the Mpumalanga Province, started the industry in South Africa. In the 1960’s, my late grandfather Richard Lunt, a close friend of Marc Spraggan, also decided to diversify his forestry operations and started producing eucalyptus oil on his farm Busby, situated not far from Goede Hoop.
In the 1970’s, Richard Lunt established a second factory in Swaziland, at Mankanyane. This afforded Peter & Sylvia Pech, (Sylvia being Richard Lunt’s daughter) the opportunity to take over the original Busby operation, and in 1972, Busby Essential Oils (Pty) Ltd was established.
In the 1990’s Peter Pech, using his strong technical and engineering background, designed and commissioned Busby’s first fractionation plant, to be able to rectify crude eucalyptus oil to international pharmacopeia standards.
KwaZulu-Natal, Durban
In 2002, Jarrett Pech a qualified chartered accountant working in Johannesburg at that time, decided to leave the corporate world and help expand Busby Oils operations. After researching the opportunities in the essential oil industry, Jarrett and his wife Kim decided to start Busby Oils Natal and bought a farm near Richmond in KwaZulu-Natal. This allowed Busby Oils as a whole to expand its crude eucalyptus oil production, with the refinery still based in Mpumalanga.
200 Tons Refined Pharma Grade Eucalyptus Oil
In 2007, Peter Pech decided to retire and Busby Oils Natal bought out the business assets from Busby Essential Oils and consolidated all of its operations into KwaZulu-Natal. With the expansion of crude oil production the refining capacity was also increased in 2011, allowing Busby Oils to produce > 200 tons of refined pharmaceutical grade eucalyptus oil per annum.
Working with Timber Farmers
Our production comes from two leaf sources, firstly from plantations, which are harvested specifically for eucalyptus oil production. These plantations take two to three years to establish from first planting, and after being cut for the first time, they are then harvested every 12 to 14 months. Secondly we work in conjunction with timber farmers who have Smithii plantations, whereby we perform silviculture operations on their behalf in return for available leaf supply.
Our operations are labour intensive and we have created job opportunities for over 200 people through our activities in KwaZulu-Natal.
Sustainably Sourced | Constant Supply
Quality Compliant | Bulk Quantity