2023-08-26 14:00:36
The vanilla trade is one of Madagascar’s main resources. The Big Island exports between 1,500 and 2,500 tons per year, which makes it, by far, the world’s leading producer. But prices have been falling steadily since 2020, plunging the country into crisis.
A pillar of the Malagasy economy, this emblematic spice represents a quarter of the country’s exports and around 5% of its GDP, in addition to being one of its main sources of foreign currency. And for good reason: 80% of the pods consumed in the world grow in the Sava, one of the 23 regions of the Big Island.
But following reaching peaks between 2017 and 2019, when they traded at more than 600 dollars / kg, the price of pods has been divided by 100 in the last four years, plunging the sector into crisis, and with it an entire country. .
Unsold inventory piling up
Especially as soaring prices and years of speculation have led to a rush to plant in the hills of the Sava, causing supply to explode while demand has begun to decline under the pressure. effect of the pandemic and competition from synthetic flavors. “Everyone started planting, and now it’s hard to sell vanilla”, testifies the farmer Chantale Tsarazara in the 7:30 p.m.
Now, tens of thousands of native Malagasies in the region are harvesting with little hope. Now fully subject to the vagaries of the market following the repeal of regulations setting a minimum price for sale and export (see box)producers are forced to store the fruits of their labor so as not to sell at a loss.
However, the current price on the local market is five francs per kilo of black pods. Far, very far from the break-even point: “Below [100 francs suisses] per kilo, I will not sell this black vanilla. I prefer to store it”, testifies a preparer from the village of Andegondroy. Consequently, among producers and exporters, the pods are piling up.
“Vanilla only has value if it is exported,” said Benoît Leroy, director of one of the country’s largest export companies. “It is not consumed here, there is too much of it. So if the export does not work, it automatically loses its value.”
The food industry is turning away from natural pods
Currently, his business is only running at 25% capacity. However, she recently received a large order from Switzerland which relieves her a little. “It’s Givaudan, so still a leader in the world of flavors and fragrances,” he says, adding that 5% of its production goes into fine perfumery.
Cosmetics is also the sector of the Valais region Sabine Kamber, professional make-up artist, an activity which made her discover the properties of natural vanilla. “In cosmetics and make-up, we can make macerations with oils where we put vanilla for three weeks, and then we can brush the whole body, it smells good”, she illustrates in the 7:30 p.m. report.
Now a reseller of this spice, she is determined to support the sector in the turmoil by selling her vanilla on the Swiss market. “The idea is not to buy below the price, rather above anyway,” she says. “It remains a luxury product!”
The agri-food sector, for its part, increasingly prefers synthetic vanillin, which is cheaper than the emblematic spice from Madagascar. The world’s leading producer must therefore quickly find solutions to preserve the future of its economy, but also of an entire industry that is two centuries old.
TV report: Renaud Roux and Anna Bellissens
Web text: Pierrik Jordan
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