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The tradition of perfume manufacture goes back many
centuries. Today, French perfumes account for a substantial
share of world perfume exports and four of the eight major
groups in the sector are French. As an evanescent product par
excellence, supporting thousands of jobs and colossal sales
figures, perfume is a luxury product that is increasingly
popular; as a sector, it has, for a number of years, undergone
some considerable changes.
Grasse, the
perfume capital
Flowers and a few animal essences such as musk and amber are the
basic ingredients of all perfumes. Indeed, it is because of
flowers that the real perfume capital in France is not Paris but
Grasse, in the Cannes hinterland, on the French Riviera. For
centuries, roses, jasmine, lavender, irises and mimosa have been
grown here along with aromatic plants to extract their essences.
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