Resin in bulk. Myrrh, bought and sorted in Somaliland

Malmal, the resin of Commiphora myrrha, bought in Somaliland, then sorted, cleaned and packed by the lot. We buy it for the order, and confirm availability and volume before we quote.

Request a quote for myrrh Request a sample

Name and species

Myrrh is the air-hardened oleo-gum-resin of Commiphora myrrha (T.Nees) Engl., a tree of the frankincense family.¹ In Somali the tree is recorded as dhidin and the resin as malmal, in older spelling molmol.^2,3

Kew treats Commiphora molmol as a synonym of C. myrrha. Pharmacopoeias and regulators still use C. molmol.^1,4 We give both, so that both are on your documents.

Other Commiphora resins look like myrrh, and commercial lots can be botanically mixed. That is why buyers ask for botanical identification and analysis of the batch.^5,6 We buy this resin as malmal, by its local name and by eye. If you need a laboratory’s identification, ask for it in your RFQ.

Forms

Myrrh is traded in only a few grades, far fewer than frankincense, sorted mainly by size, colour and cleanliness.⁶ We offer two forms.

Myrrh forms
Grade	What it looks like	Typical use
Natural tears	Whole tears as collected, sorted and cleaned before packing	Incense, tincture
Cleaned pieces	Pieces, sorted and cleaned before packing	Distillation

Myrrh is traded in few grades. We sort and clean it, and agree the description with you in writing, against a sample of the lot.

Specification

The lines of the written specification. Copy them into your RFQ and set your own figures.

The lines of the written specification, and how each is settled
Line	What the written specification states	Status
Resin	Myrrh, bought as malmal, with both botanical names	Every order
Form	Natural tears or cleaned pieces	Every order
Size, colour, cleanliness	In plain words, judged against the approved sample and the photographs of the lot	Every order
Bark, stone and other foreign matter	A maximum by weight can be written in	Yours to set
Moisture	A maximum and the test method. Measured by an outside laboratory	On request
GC-MS profile of the oil	By an outside laboratory, named on the report	On request
Pharmacopoeia monograph	Name the monograph and edition. We call myrrh pharmacopoeia grade only with the certificate to show for it	On request
Sampling	The sample is drawn from the lot on offer. State how you want it drawn, and whether a counter-sample should be kept and for how long	Every order
Packing	25 kg woven bags as standard. State the bag or carton you need, the net weight of each and the tolerance on it	Every order
Marks	The lot number on every bag, and any marks of your own	Every order
Storage and transit	Any condition your material needs between packing and arrival	Yours to set
Reference	The sample and photographs of the lot you approved, and its lot number	Every order

Published reference values

From published studies. These are not measurements of our lots and are not a specification. The analysis of the lot itself is what counts.
Parameter	Published value
Make-up of the resin	A water-soluble gum, about 30 to 60%; an alcohol-soluble resin, about 25 to 40%; and a volatile oil⁵
Character of the essential oil	Furanosesquiterpenes, chiefly furanoeudesma-1,3-diene, with curzerene^4,5
Oil yield	About 3% in laboratory extraction and about 5% in commercial steam distillation^5,6

Terms

Delivery term: FOB BerberaCIF to your port on request
Packing: 25 kg woven bagsCartons, inner liners and custom packing on request
Samples: Usually 100 g to 1 kg per gradeBy courier, drawn from the lot on offer
Payment: Bank transfer or letter of creditThe quotation names the entity you contract with and the account you pay. If you want a letter of credit, ask your own bank first.
First orders: Small first orders are welcomeTell us the quantity and we will say whether we can supply it.
Stated in each quotation: Price, minimum quantity and lead timeNone of the three is fixed in advance: each depends on the product, the grade and the season. The quotation gives them for a named lot, per kilogram by grade, and says how long it holds.

Documents

Before you order: Written specification
Sample and photographs of the lot
With every shipment: Commercial invoice
Packing list
Lot list
Certificate of origin
Phytosanitary certificate
Bill of lading or air waybill
When you ask: Insurance certificate, with CIF orders
Laboratory analysis
Safety data sheet
Business licence and export licence
Not available: Organic, wild-collection or fair-trade certificate: none held

Origin on customs records Tariff preference lists name Somalia, not Somaliland, so expect the origin to be recorded as Somalia (SO).^7,8 Ask your broker how to declare it before the first shipment.

Who issues each paper, and when you receive it, is set out on How it works.

Packing and shipping

Standard packing: 25 kg woven bags. Cartons, inner liners and custom packing on request.
Marks: Each bag carries its lot number. The same number is on the packing list and the invoice.
Port of loading: Berbera. FOB Berbera as standard, CIF to your port on request, air freight for small urgent lots. How shipping from Berbera works.
Classification: Myrrh is declared under HS 1301.90, with other natural gums and resins.^9,10 Duty by market.

Origin and collection

Commiphora myrrha is native to Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.¹ The Flora of Tropical East Africa describes it as a spiny shrub or small tree of open acacia and commiphora bushland, on shallow soil, chiefly over limestone.¹¹

The resin is gathered both where it seeps out by itself and from cuts made in the bark. Practice varies from one area to the next.^4,12 Ours is collected as natural tears from wild trees, then sorted and cleaned before packing. Ask us how the lot you are offered was collected.

Myrrh trees grow across the Horn of Africa, and the resin is traded across its borders.¹³ We buy in Somaliland and write the collection area of each bag on the lot list, so that the origin of a lot is on record.

Uses

Perfumery: Myrrh absolute and resinoid are used as fixatives and sweeteners in oriental-spicy and woody bases.⁶
Oral care and herbal products: Myrrh tincture is used in mouthwashes and gargles.⁶ In the EU, the tincture has a herbal monograph for traditional use.⁴ That is the regulator’s wording about a finished medicine. We make no claim of the kind for raw resin.
Incense and skin care: Myrrh is used in incense, in skin-care products and in traditional Chinese medicine.⁶
Flavouring: In the United States, myrrh is a permitted natural flavouring substance under 21 CFR 172.510.¹⁴

Trade rules

CITES: The Commiphora species that the CITES Parties listed at their meeting of November and December 2025 is guggul, Commiphora wightii.¹⁵ Myrrh is a different species, Commiphora myrrha, and we know of no listing for it. The botanical name on the documents is what tells the two apart at a border. A listing can change, so check Species+ for the date you ship.

Questions

How does myrrh differ from opoponax?: They come from different Commiphora trees. We describe myrrh as warm and bitter-balsamic, and opoponax, sold as sweet myrrh, as sweet and balsamic. See the opoponax sheet for its species names, which are less settled than those of myrrh.
Can you supply to a pharmacopoeia specification?: We can have a lot tested against the monograph you name, by an outside laboratory, before you order. The result decides what the lot may be called.

Tell us the form and the quantity.

We answer with what is available, a sample of the lot and a quotation for it.

Not ready to quote? Request a sample of a lot or message Canada on WhatsApp.

References

Published sources for the reference facts on this page, last read 7 October 2026. Statements about how Orivex Exports works are our own and are not drawn from these sources.

1Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2026). Commiphora myrrha (T.Nees) Engl. Plants of the World Online. powo.science.kew.org
2University of Melbourne (n.d.). Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database: Commiphora names. plantnames.unimelb.edu.au
3World Agroforestry (ICRAF) (n.d.). Commiphora myrrha, in Useful trees and shrubs for Kenya. apps.worldagroforestry.org
4European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (2011). Assessment report on Commiphora molmol Engler, gummi-resina. ema.europa.eu
5Hanuš L.O., Řezanka T., Dembitsky V.M., Moussaieff A. (2005). Myrrh: Commiphora chemistry. Biomedical Papers 149(1): 3–28. biomed.papers.upol.cz
6Coppen J.J.W., in Chikamai B., Casadei E. (eds) (2005). Production and marketing of gum resins: frankincense, myrrh and opoponax (chapter 1). NGARA Publication Series 5, Network for Natural Gums and Resins in Africa. botanical-dermatology-database.info
7UK Department for Business and Trade (2026). Preference tiers under the Developing Countries Trading Scheme. gov.uk
8European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union (2026). The Registered Exporter system (REX). taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu
9Canada Border Services Agency (2026). Customs Tariff 2026, Chapter 13: lac; gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts. cbsa-asfc.gc.ca
10US International Trade Commission (2026). Harmonized Tariff Schedule, heading 1301. hts.usitc.gov
11Gillett J.B. (1991). Commiphora myrrha, in Flora of Tropical East Africa: Burseraceae. Reproduced on Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. powo.science.kew.org
12GIZ (2020). Partnership Ready Ethiopia: gums and resins. giz.de
13Kassa H., Tefera B., Fitwi G. (2011). Preliminary value chain analysis of gum and resin marketing in Ethiopia. CIFOR infobrief. cifor-icraf.org
14US Food and Drug Administration (2026). 21 CFR 172.510, Natural flavoring substances and natural substances used in conjunction with flavors. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. ecfr.gov
15IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin (2025). CITES CoP20 daily coverage, 5 December 2025. enb.iisd.org