From 20 euros / kg, to 500 euros / kg.
It would be an exaggeration to say that "it's worth its weight in gold", but it fully reflects the fact that vanilla has become more expensive than silver, costing just over 500 euros per kilo. Inevitably, this is bad news not only for ice cream and sweets, but even for aromas.
The worrying price increase is related to various factors, such as complicated pollination, extreme weather conditions, theft and an increase in the tendency for "natural" foods. All these variables are usually combined harmoniously in order to create the finest of spices.
One reason for its expensive price is its difficult and time consuming development. Vanilla vines take two to four years to fully mature and its flowers only bloom for one day a year. In order for plants to produce vanilla fruit, they must be fertilized that day.
In most places where vanilla is grown, there are no insects or birds that pollinate the flowers. Natural pollination can only be done by a small bee living in Mexico!
Many of the approximately 90 species of vanilla are found in Mexico, but deforestation has significantly reduced its natural habitat.
In Madagascar, where more than 80% of world vanilla production is produced, flowers have to be pollinated by hand. The whole process is time consuming and requires hard work.
Its high price is a historical record
Emanuel Faber, president and CEO of Danone, one of the multinationals buying vanilla from Madagascar, was forced to visit the tropical island at some point to understand why its price had risen so much but also to secure supply and improve the lives of farmers.
Multinationals like Danone need to make credible efforts to find out what is going on in their supply chains and address the problems when they find them. says Faber in the Financial Times. "This is a huge ideological simplification that we have adopted for 50 years."
On the other hand, 46-year-old farmer Lydia Soa, demands more drastic measures, speaking to Time. At the moment, vanilla thieves are facing 3-4 years in prison. For Lydia this is not enough. He proposes life imprisonment. "We invest our whole life in the cultivation of vanilla. "Stealing it is the same as killing someone."