• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

G.K. Nair

Two cyclones that hit Madagascar earlier this year were projected to have wrecked the vanilla crop there. But that hasn't happened. And that has left the growers here scrapping the barrel.

Kochi , Sept. 24

THE news is a bitter one for vanilla growers. According to the latest estimates, production of cured vanilla beans in Madagascar is likely to be 1,200 - 1,600 tonnes this year.

Growers here had expected the crop to be hit on account of cyclones that had hit Madagascar in January and March last. And, they had expected the prices to rule high this year.

Media reports in March had projected that cyclone Gafila might have "wiped out at least 60 per cent of this year's vanilla crop". Contrary to these reports, the cyclones left only some of the growing areas damaged.

When contacted by Business Line, the Indian Ambassador in Madagascar, Mr Sibabrata Tripathi, said: "There were two cyclones that affected certain vanilla-growing areas in Madagascar, one in January and the other in March."

However, "these cyclones, particularly the latter, did damage vanilla in some ares resulting in wilting of vines and it is my understanding that production in 2004 in terms of cured beans would be between 1,200-1,600 tonnes, down from the early 2004 estimates of roughly between 2,000 and 2,200 tonnes."

According to him, "as of now, exports have not commenced. Prices of cured beans procured from farmers are said to as low as the equivalent of $20 per kg."

Farmers here have been hoping that the production in Madagascar would drop sharply and as a consequence, the prices would rule higher.

Some of the buyers here have been offering Rs 200 a kg for green beans. Mr C.V. Jacob, Managing Director, Synthite Industrial Chemicals, at nearby Kolencherry told Business Line that his company was ready to buy 600 tonnes of green beans for its buyers in the US "at the accepted price of Rs 250 a kg".

Brushing aside the allegations of growers that a cartel is trying to push the prices down, Mr Jacob said due to the uncompetitive prices,the end use had halved.

"Attractive price could bring more buyers for natural vanillin. The demand for synthetic vanillin at present is 50 times more than that of natural vanillin," he said.

He said 1,000 vines could be planted in one acre and on an average, one kg of green bean per plant could be harvested from third or fourth year. The total investment per acre would come to about Rs 1 lakh, he claimed.

Some of the major growers, however, said they would process the beans and stock till the prices rose to remunerative levels. They have already floated a company for procuring green beans, processing and marketing it directly to overseas buyers.

Meanwhile, a senior official source at AVT McCormik, the world's largest buyer of cured vanilla beans, said the company had not begun buying. Due to high prices, which had gone up to Rs 3,700 a kg for green beans, the growers had harvested even immature beans. This had reduced the quality, he said.

The major consumers of vanilla beans currently are the developed countries with the US, France and Germany absorbing about 80 per cent of the world imports. Among them, the US imports 50-60 per cent while the latter 10-15 per cent each. They are also main re-exporters of both vanilla beans and processed products, he said.

The production in India last year was around 75 tonnes of cured beans, while it is estimated to be around 100 tonnes this year. The average price during the last 10 years with the exception of extremes has been around $40 a kg, he pointed out. The price seems to have reached the saturation point and it was bound to fall, he added.

The total area of vanilla cultivation in the world during 2001 was 40,846 ha and production was 5,583 tonnes.

Vanilla flavour consumed at present in India is almost entirely from synthetic substitutes. The import of vanillin and ethyl vanillin together to India during 2000-01 was 404 tonnes.

More Stories on : Spices & Condiments | Exports & Imports

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Crop loans rescheduled in TN

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line