Antananarivo — Madagascar’s vanilla producers expect prices to remain high during the 2018-2019 season but they will not match the record levels the luxury spice reached in 2017. Nearly halfway through the harvest of green vanilla beans that runs from July to September, prices have reached $56/kg, 20% higher than prices at the start of the harvesting season on July 15. Once the vanilla is ready for export its price is eight to 10 times higher than for green vanilla, meaning the export price is expected to be $376-$560/kg. The forests of the northeast tip of the Indian Ocean island are the world’s vanilla capital due to the perfect climate. Vanilla from Madagascar is known for its rich and creamy taste. In 2017, the price of black nonsplit Madagascar vanilla VAN-MG-BNS, the benchmark price, rose to a record $635/kg from $100/kg two years earlier. The surge in prices, sparked by growing luxury market demand for natural — as opposed to synthetic — vanilla, caused a wave of thefts of va...
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