Price of Comorian vanilla

06/09/2022

How is vanilla priced? What is the most expensive vanilla in the world? We tell you all about it in this article. 

As we defined in our article entitled "Bourbon vanilla from the Comoros", vanilla is a spice like any other. It is composed of tropical climbing orchids of the genus Vanilla, particularly the species Vanilla planifolia.

It is cultivated in humid tropical countries. Today (in 2021), world production is estimated at more than 2,500,000 kilos of natural vanilla (according to the website https://www.planetoscope.com/).

This clearly shows that vanilla production is an opulent commodity despite the ever-decreasing price since 2018.

Indonesia leads the world in production ahead of Madagascar (the Indian Ocean giant).

1. How is the price of vanilla set?

Vanilla does not have a fixed price. Each producing country sets its selling price according to three things: the quantity produced, the conditions imposed by the buyers and the quality of the production. For the 2019 harvest, the price per kilo of vanilla varied greatly depending on the producing country. For example, it ranged from 250 to 330 euros in the Comoros, 150 to 200 euros in Madagascar, 225 to 280 euros in Reunion, 100 to 150 euros in Indonesia, 95 to 143 euros in Mexico...


It is important to note that since the beginning of the 2000s, the sector has been in a state of permanent deterioration because the production and marketing of natural vanilla beans is confronted with three major problems: competition from synthetic vanilla, the fact that its price is insensitive to climatic conditions, and the fact that a large part of the world's producers deliver very poor quality beans, due to a lack of knowledge of agroecology.

As for our company (Nour Fahad), it sets the prices of its various pods according to the import costs and the authenticity of the pod. We will demonstrate this by taking the example of the box of 10 "Echata" pods which costs 23 euros on our website. The pods in the box measure between 14 and 18 cm. They have been picked naturally using totally natural and traditional methods (see our article: "Bourbon" vanilla from the Comoros). We bought it at a price of 150 euros per kilo (i.e. 0.45 euros per pod) from Comorian farmers. The import cost for 1 kg (Comorian taxes, export fees, transport costs, insurance, customs and French taxes) comes to 200 euros, (0.58 euros per pod). This means that the total cost of buying the "Echata" box is estimated at 14.03 euros (10.03 euros for the import costs of the 10 pods and about 4 euros for packaging and wrapping).

We have set its selling price at 23 euros including 20% VAT (4.6 euros).  

2. What is the most expensive vanilla in the world?

It should be noted that vanilla is too expensive all over the world. First of all, because the cultivation and production process is very complex. If you read our article "Comoros bourbon vanilla", you will see for yourself that from pollination to harvesting, packaging and marketing, vanilla production is a very long and complex process.

We believe that Comoros bourbon vanilla is the most expensive in the world. We don't talk about this vanilla very often simply because the quantity of its production remains very small. It represents 0.4% of world production. But this pod is distinguished from others by its unique biological composition (see also the article "Comoros bourbon vanilla").

Signed by Faina Hadji. 

Cliquer sur l'image pour découvrir nos variétés de vanilles