Chronicle of raw materials

Malagasy vanilla: exporters singled out

Audio 01:46

Baskets of freshly harvested green vanilla in Sambava.

Sarah Tetaud/RFI

By: Marie-Pierre Olphand Follow

2 mins

The Madagascan vanilla campaign ended yesterday.

And given the non-respect of prices by some exporters, the sector is determined to sort it out.

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The next Malagasy campaign will not look like the previous one.

In any case, this is the wish of the CNV, the National Vanilla Council.

The organization, which brings together planters, collectors and exporters, under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce, has announced its intention to clean up a sector “

 ” to quote one of the players.

Those who are singled out are the exporters who did not respect the minimum export selling price – 250 dollars per kilo – and who sold vanilla at half price, or even less.

With their practices, " 

 " confides a member of the CNV.

To the delight of importers who have done business with them.

The sector wants to reduce the number of exporters

Last year, there were 90 exporters. For the next campaign, they could be less than 40. This is what the Council made clear during a recent field trip.

Those among the vanilla buyers who took advantage of these slashed prices will have to pay more for Malagasy vanilla, the idea being to reconnect with prices that remunerate the producer at a fairer price.

These new rules will be presented to the main buying countries on Monday, by representatives of the vanilla industry meeting in Paris.

“

Prices not controlled enough

”

Exporters who know they are in the hot seat denounce the concentration of the market in the hands of a cartel.

Some planters are also protesting, because they are demanding, on their side, a total liberalization of the sector to have the right to export themselves, which is impossible if they do not have an approval.

The real problem, explains one of them, it is the lack of control on the markets, he assures, the purchasers who negotiate the prices with the fall are never sanctioned.

This is still the case since the opening of the new green vanilla campaign on June 22, in Tamatave, where the pods are too often sold at only a third of the fixed price.

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• Raw materials

• Madagascar

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