In Madagascar, a new meeting between vanilla exporters to try to stem the crisis in which the sector is bogged down. Some 620 tons of the precious Malagasy black bean have been sold on international markets since October. This is three times less than last year, on the same date. On the island, planters, collectors and exporters find themselves with stocks of vanilla on their hands and immense uncertainty: will they be able to sell?
With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tetaud
Exporters met Monday, March 27, more than eight hours behind closed doors, to discuss a common marketing strategy.
” The current structure of our sector no longer works », Explains, like a confession, a vanilla exporter. ” Politics has completely interfered in vanilla and the pressures on the sector are all the greater in this pre-election period. “says another.
A feeling shared by several operators, worried, who therefore answered present, Monday, to the call of the Minister of Industry and Trade, Edgard Razafindravahy: “ You know, there is still a local purchasing crisis, but there is also an international purchasing crisis. So I called the exporters together to agree on lasting solutions to manage the future of the vanilla industry. »
Result: about sixty exporters or their representatives (out of the 70 approved) debated all day around three options, relates Ykbal Hiridjee, administrator of the exporting company Trimeta: “ Either the status quo, or wild liberalisation, or a new form of commercial structure to be studied and analyzed with the buyers, of course, as real partners who could let us know, for example, the date on which they would like us to close the campaign because the stakes are high. We now have to decide and everyone to express themselves, without there being any pressure on their choice, in a very, very short time. »
According to several exporters interviewed, it would be this third option that could achieve consensus. The price set at $250 per kilogram by the government, in agreement with the national vanilla committee, would not change. On the other hand, international buyers could be asked to form a consortium to buy vanilla. An attribution of approvals and an obligation to announce the objectives of purchase are other tracks envisaged.
The exporters have decided to meet again on April 3 to take a final decision this time, they announce.
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