A WA company is set to launch an assault on the State’s mosquito population with the release of a new range of mosquito repellent sticks.
As well as deterring unwanted insects from making an appearance, the New Mountain sandalwood repellent sticks are expected to generate $10 million a year in domestic sales and exports.
The repellent sticks, launched officially yesterday, are manufac-tured by WA company Wescorp International, which researched and developed the product in a bid to keep a greater share of the profits from the State’s sandal-wood industry.
Wescorp International mana-ging director Tim Coakley said New Mountain was formed to identify opportunities to add value to the local sandalwood industry.
He said that, before 1994, almost all Western Australia’s sandal-wood was exported in its raw form to be processed in Asia.
“When our subsidiary company, Wescorp Sandalwood Pty Ltd, received the tender to process and market all sandalwood, we knew there had to be a way to value-add to the raw product and keep the profits in WA,” Mr Coakley said.
In 1997, the company began processing half of the annual WA sandalwood crop into high-grade sandalwood powder.
Two years later, Wescorp Sandalwood developed a range of value-added products, including the mosquito repellent sticks.
Mr Coakley said early market research undertaken in Broome and Mandurah had returned positive results and number of major suppliers, including Bunnings, Big W and Mitre 10, had agreed to stock the product.