We are sure you’ve noticed a rise in vanilla prices over the past couple of years…it’s hard not to when you’re running low on your beloved Rodelle vanilla products and go to the grocery store to stock up! Many people think that saffron is the world’s most labor-intensive crop however vanilla beans are also very complex crops. Of 25,000-30,000 orchid species, vanilla is the only one that produces an edible fruit, and each orchid must be hand pollinated within 24 hours of blossoming. Vanilla farmers are often plighted with weather conditions and complex supply chains. We closely monitor market conditions in the growing regions, and we strive to source consistently priced vanilla products of superior quality. 2017 is no exception as the largest hurricane in 13 years hit Madagascar’s vanilla growing regions in March – you can read more about that cyclone, Enawo, here.
Speculation, high demand and low supply all caused the price of vanilla beans to sharply rise and prices reached 13-year highs with the completion of the Madagascar harvest in 2016. Madagascar represented 85% of the world’s vanilla bean crop in 2016. The prices there have easily driven up prices in the marketplace and controlled speculation into 2017. Despite the destruction to 20-30% of the Madagascar vanilla crop for 2017, Rodelle hopes that inventories will be available to meet customer demand on vanilla needs this year and in the near future.
Rodelle is working toward the future by inserting ourselves deeper into the vanilla-growing regions by working directly with farmer cooperatives that will eliminate extraneous costs. It is going to take time for conditions in the vanilla market to improve. Rodelle is committed to doing our part to make an impact by becoming fully sustainable in the vanilla growing regions. We are working very hard to lessen the impact of this price surge and are doing what we can to help improve prices. In the meantime, Rodelle will continue our 80-year tradition of creating quality vanilla products.
Please feel free to comment or email us at contact at rodelleinc.com with any questions!