In two years, the price for pods of vanilla grew more than three times due to the deficit. Businesses are looking for its natural replacement
Over the last two years, the price of vanilla pods increased more than 3 times and reached $ 450 per kilogram. The reason is an artificial shortage which is created by brokers and harvesters accumulating their own stocks. The situation is compounded by the fact that many food producers do not want to use synthetic vanilla substitutes because they say to buyers that their products consist only of natural ingredients. Nestlé and Hershey have said about their plans to abandon synthetic fragrances.
Vanilla is the most expensive spice in the world after saffron. The largest supplier of natural vanilla in the world market is Madagascar, it accounts for about 80% of all deliveries. In the 2000s, the price of the flavor was kept at a low level, which is why in China farmers, Indonesia and Uganda have switched to more profitable crops, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Madagascar, on the contrary, tried to protect its market share, due to the fact that on the island of vanilla production the cost was several times lower than in other countries.
Vanilla world market preferences: natural or synthetic
About 90% of flavoring used in the global food industry, has a synthetic origin and is obtained mainly from petroleum. The price of such a replacement order of magnitude is less than the cost of natural vanilla pods. Vanillin molecule can also be synthesized from rice bran oil and clove oil. Norwegian producer Borregaard estimated, about 7% of vanillin is synthesized from coniferous trees, natural pods - only 1%.
Recently the Japanese T Hasegawa announced a breakthrough. They managed to get a flavor of vanilla from the fermentation of sugar. Pilot samples have already been provided to professional experts who announced that their smell is almost impossible to distinguish from natural. If the company will be able to bring to market a new product, it will be able to transform the industry: in 2012, according to the FT, the Japanese companies were able to buy natural vanilla for $20 per 1 kg, and at the beginning of 2017 - already at $500.
Predictions about the price of vanilla in 2017
Last year, the crop turned out to be the poor quality that only spurred further growth of prices for the product on the background of the deficit, according to the report of the US Nielsen-Massey, one of the world's largest producers of spices. In 2017 the situation is unlikely to improve. The company expects that the price of vanilla will remain high throughout the first half of 2017 and do not fall below $400-450/kg.
