Beans as of this week are going for an average of 1,600,000 ariary for good cured noire A’s, all around SAVA.

Clients and importers who do not understand vanilla are just about as angry as any point over the past 3 years, as the price rise coming up since the much-trumpeted cyclone and so-called “shortage” is going to further sadden or enrage businesses abroad whose products and profit models depend on (real) vanilla.

Vanilla is becoming a luxury product to some this year, signing on in a strange way some clients who never bought before, due to it now having an expensive perception and reputation. It is an expression of quality.

In parallel are some businesses that use very little overall input of vanilla as portion of product overall price. Their orders, dependent on vanilla flavor but not relative quantity, have continued as usual.

The businesses that have fallen off in the market of 2016-17 and stopped ordering are primarily businesses for which vanilla is a critical part of the overall price ratio input of a product.

For example: If a product is $100 and $1-5 of that is vanilla = We have noticed little change in demand in orders.

If a product is $100 and $15-50 is vanilla or more, we notice cries of despair or cease in orders.

A very educational year. It has exposed some of the math of our customers and clients too, as well as that of the greater worldwide food and beverage trade.