Madagascar: Vanilla exporters discuss common marketing strategy

An organic vanilla "sorter" in this exporter's shed. Once sorted by size, the pods will be placed on the "organic" racks, behind it. RFI/Sarah Tétaud

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2 min

In Madagascar, new meeting between vanilla exporters to try to stem the crisis in which the sector is bogged down. Some 620 tons of the precious Malagasy black pod have been sold on international markets since October. This is three times less than last year, on the same date. On the island, planters, collectors and exporters find themselves with vanilla stocks on their hands and immense uncertainty: will they be able to sell?

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With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tétaud

Exporters met for more than eight hours behind closed doors on Monday 27 March to discuss a common marketing strategy.

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The current structure of our sector no longer works ", explains, like a confession, a vanilla exporter. "Politics has completely interfered in vanilla and the pressures on the sector are all the greater in this pre-election period," says another.

A sentiment shared by several operators, worried, who responded on Monday to the call of the Minister of Industry and Trade, Edgard Razafindravahy: "You know, there is still a local purchasing crisis, but there is also a buying crisis internationally. So I convened the exporters to agree on sustainable solutions to manage the future of the vanilla sector.

As a result, about sixty exporters or their representatives (out of the 70 approved) debated all day around three options, says Ykbal Hiridjee, director of the exporting company Trimeta: "Either the status quo, or a wild liberalization, or a new form of commercial structure to study and analyze with buyers obviously, as real partners who could share with us, for example, the date on which they want the campaign closed because the stakes are high. We must now decide and everyone has to express themselves, without any pressure on their choice, in a very, very short time.

According to several exporters interviewed, this third option could be the consensus on this. The price set at $250 per kilogram by the government, in agreement with the national vanilla committee, would not budge. On the other hand, international buyers could be asked to form a consortium to buy vanilla. The granting of approvals and an obligation to announce purchasing objectives are other avenues being considered.

The exporters have decided to meet again on April 3 to make, this time, a final decision, they announce.

► Read also: Arm wrestling over Malagasy vanilla

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• Madagascar
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