Essex Laboratories serves its valuable customer base by developing high-quality mint oils sourced from both domestic and international growers/distributors. We are pleased to bring you this report, which summarizes general activity and trends that affect our domestic product sourcing program. Information presented reflects cooperative input from growers/suppliers and partners, and we are very grateful to be able to pass it along.

Domestic Market Activity

Peppermint

Peppermint acres continued to be on a slight decline from 2024, for several reasons:

  • Several years of lower prices due to higher grower held inventory predictably resulted in acres being shifted to other crops, as held inventory levels have been consumed,
  • While fewer regions have experienced recent irrigation restrictions, others are still lacking disease free ground into which peppermint can be rotated, which limits both present and future production potential, especially for smaller scale producers,
  • Declines in both total domestic peppermint producers and distillation facilities, which are highly correlated, as custom distillation is an additional production expense that priced some producers out of the market with recent inflationary trends,
  • Narrow margins on peppermint, with price increases post-2020 not able to match (in particular) higher labor and borrowed money costs for mint producers.

This trend has manifested in about 25,000 acres of planted conventional peppermint for 2025, roughly half of what existed just 5-6 years ago. While this market “correction” has normalized production to more accurately meet global demand, forward looking trends are expected to show an increase in planted peppermint acres for 2026 and beyond, along with greater producer enthusiasm for the success of the crop. Drivers for this trend include the following:

  • Skepticism for the impact of global tariffs on international mint costs,
  • Weak crop commodity prices, and corresponding strength of mint as a cash crop,
  • Normalization of more stringent pesticide residue requirements from global buyers, which favors domestic sources of mint, and
  • Maintained quality of domestic peppermint, which has no global equal.

Inflationary pressure that, at its peak, raised mint input costs 30-50%, has subsided a bit, but labor and the cost of borrowed money for farmers continues to put pressure on mint prices. However, the concurrent weakening of commodities like corn or wheat have re-energized farmer interest in planting mint acres for the future, with modest to moderate acreage expansion expected, especially in regions where labor costs have been less impacted since 2020.

Considering all of these factors, 2025 market conditions showed that conventional peppermint commanded $52-55/kg. This represented a mild price softening from 2023, when inflationary values were maximally felt at the grower level, with continued price softening offset by reduced overall production. There has also been an increase in planted acres for proprietary peppermints in response to prices, with current acreage estimates at 15-20% of the total peppermint produced being non-conventional.

Native Spearmint

Following a sluggish ~2-year period where global demand for native spearmint was a bit sluggish, recent demand has experienced a resurgence, which has provided a boost for the producer network but also challenges in that production input costs have gone up significantly during that same span of time. The Spearmint Marketing Order has concurrently bounced back from a low saleable percentage in 2024 to allow for more purchases in both the 2025 and the upcoming 2026 growing seasons, offering an additional boost to activity in this mint category. Overall, there are scattered spot opportunities to purchase open oil, but contract prices have normalized at $42-44/kg to offset higher input costs.

Scotch Spearmint

Waning demand from buyers from 2020-2024 pressured growers to reduce planted acres to mitigate rising held volumes, which have now normalized to the point where little to no open oil is available on the market, especially from Far West sources. 2025 saw fewer than 5,000 acres of planted Scotch spearmint, encompassing both the Far West and Midwest regions. Looking forward, a resurgence in demand for US Scotch, driven in part by concerns over tariffs on Canadian imports, has only been mitigated by sluggish supply of clean plant stock, which may not normalize until the 2027 crop year. The Spearmint Marketing Order has responded to market trends to allow for more purchases in the upcoming 2026 growing season, but there is a finite level to which actual production is expected to meet this capacity. This limitation to available oil has resulted in scattered spot opportunities to purchase open oil, with both spot and contract prices expected to reach $46-50/kg until supply again equilibrates with market demand.

Varietal Mints

Some forms of varietal mint (either with shared or exclusive access among buyers) have been in the market since ~2010, most of which confer an economic advantage via higher yields. The impact of these varietal mints on total production numbers has become more pronounced since 2020, as varietals have assisted in maintaining a competitive advantage in an otherwise inflationary market. As mentioned above, varietal mints comprise a now significant share of the production market, with an estimated 4,000-5,000 acres in domestic production. Because of benefits like:

  • Higher yields,
  • Greater tolerance to common diseases, and
  • Stronger guarantees of purchases from buyers,

Producers have shown an ever-increasing interest in varietal production, as this trend continues to accelerate. Because of their proprietary position, it is less visible how varietal prices compare to those for conventional mints, although a business favorable position can be logically presumed.

Field Observations/Conclusions

Recent concerns among growers regarding input costs and the appeal of easier to grow and more profitable crops have waned, but the risks posed by higher labor and borrowed money costs are still pertinent among US growers. Risk of limited future supply can be realistically counteracted by:

  1. Price equilibration to normalize economic returns for mint with that for other crops.
  2. Continued shifts to proprietary varieties of mint that offer income competitiveness to growers and yields to mint companies like Essex that allow for mitigation of price increases.

There is always an element of risk involved in mint production, which has potential to impact Essex and its customers. Essex mitigates this risk by doing the following:

  • Working with experienced growers who know how to consistently deliver top quality mint oil with an emphasis on mutual loyalty.
  • Developing and offering unique mint varieties that are unavailable from any other supplier and that can be obtained at a premium price relative to conventional mint.
  • Maintaining a dedicated team of experienced professionals who are committed to delivering excellence to our customers.

It is this combination of traits and actions that makes Essex unique and an ideal partner for your mint oil needs. We are not successful if our customers are not pleased with our products, and we approach our business with this mindset every day.

~Matt Fagerness – Purchasing Manager