Traceability: what we record for every lot

What you can do with it

Match the goods to the papers

The lot number on the bag is the number on the packing list and the invoice, with the same grade, weight and bag count.

See where each bag came from

The lot list ties every bag to the area and date it was collected.

Go back to the purchase

We record every purchase: who sold it, where, when and what we paid. Lot records and payment records are kept so that you can show your own customers where the resin came from.

Reorder the same thing

The written specification and the lot record of the last order are the brief for the next.

Reading a lot reference

ORX

Orivex Exports

FR

Material: FR frankincense, MY myrrh, OP opoponax, GA gum arabic, NM another material

2027

Year the lot was made up

001

Running number within that material and year

FR covers both frankincense types: beeyo or maydi is named in the record.

What goes on file

Each stage adds its records to the lot file. By the time the order is closed, this is what is in it, and who answers for each part.

• In Somaliland
• From Canada
• Your decision

1. Stage 1BriefHamza Abdi, Canada
   • RFQ reference
   • Written specification
2. Stage 2SourceAbdirahman Hussein, Hargeisa
   • Purchase records
3. Stage 3IdentifyAbdirahman Hussein, Hargeisa
   • Type and collection area of each purchase
4. Stage 4AggregateAbdirahman Hussein, Hargeisa
   • Lot number
   • Lot list: collection area and date
5. Stage 5PrepareAbdirahman Hussein, Hargeisa
   • Grade and weight of the lot
   • Photographs of the lot
   • Sample sent to you
6. Your decisionYou
   • Your approval of the sample
   • The signed contract
7. Stage 6DocumentAbdirahman Hussein, Hargeisa
   • Bag count and weights as packed
   • Invoice and packing list
   • Certificate of origin
   • Phytosanitary certificate
   • Laboratory report, if ordered
8. Stage 7ShipAbdirahman Hussein, Hargeisa
   • Shipping marks as packed
   • Transport document from the carrier
9. Stage 8Account and follow-upHamza Abdi, Canada
   • Record of your payment
   • Notes for the next order

See what we do at each stage

What we do not claim

Not “traceable to the tree”

We trace to the collection area, the date and the purchase. Individual trees are not tagged.

Not a percentage

A figure such as “100% traceable” means nothing without saying what is counted. This page says what is recorded.

Not certified

We hold no organic, wild-collection or fair-trade certificate. Our buying rules are our own, and no third party audits them.

Not a laboratory identification

Type is judged by eye by the person who buys the resin. Analysis of a lot is arranged on request.

Why buyers ask

Species get mixed

A 2019 study found the marker of a second species in 9 of 13 commercial oils sold as pure Boswellia carterii, including 4 of 5 certified organic oils.¹ A certificate did not prevent it. Knowing what was bought, and where, is where checking starts.

Trees get over-tapped

Fieldwork in Sanaag in 2016 and 2017 found most trees carrying more than twelve cuts at eight of ten sites surveyed, against a traditional limit of ten to twelve on the largest trees.² A buyer who cares about that needs to know whose trees the resin came from.

The rules are tightening

The EU Forced Labour Regulation applies from 14 December 2027 to all products placed on the EU market, whatever their origin.³ The EU’s supply-chain due-diligence directive, as amended in 2026, applies to the largest companies from July 2029.⁴ A buyer in scope may pass its questions down to its suppliers.

Food importers must verify suppliers

In the United States, the importer of a food ingredient must run a Foreign Supplier Verification Program covering its foreign supplier.⁵

How the file reaches you

Questions

What does lot-level traceability mean in practice?

That every bag has a number, and that the number leads to a list of where and when its contents were collected, to the purchases behind it, and to the export papers made out for it.

How do you address over-harvesting?

By what we buy and from whom: only from trees whose ownership is not in dispute, and from harvesters who keep to tapping limits and rest periods. Those are our own rules, and nobody outside the company audits them.

Is frankincense CITES-listed?

No Boswellia species was CITES-listed in January 2026, after the Parties’ meeting of November and December 2025.⁶ All Boswellia species are in Annex D of the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations, so EU imports are monitored.⁷ See the frankincense sheet.

Can you complete our supplier questionnaire?

Send it. We answer what we can and mark what we cannot, in the same way as the status list on our About page.