Sava Region, Madagascar — Hit by rampant speculation and a collapse in production following cyclone Enawo, the price of vanilla — Madagascar’s largest export — has surged in recent months. Ice cream, aromatherapy, perfume and haute cuisine — all use the spice sourced from the Indian Ocean island, which accounts for about 80% of global production. The sudden cash bonanza threatens to fuel crime and slash quality. On the single paved road in Ampanefena, a rural community in the north-east of Madagascar, youths pass the time doing wheelies on their high-powered Japanese motorbikes. "It cost 200 million Malagasy ariary (¤12,00, $14,000)," claims Akman Mat-hon, 17, atop a Kawasaki too large for his frame. His father is "in vanilla" and bought the bike as a gift. Business is booming: since 2015, the price of the spice has soared relentlessly to "a never-before-seen peak of between $600/kg and $750/kg," according to Georges Geeraerts, president of Madagascar’s Group of Vanilla Exporters. S...
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