After Chocolate Hit, Vanilla Supplies Now Set to Face Disruption
- Output for 2024 harvest could fall to 1,000 tons after cyclone
- One positive note: Vanilla prices are still subdued after fall
Vanilla bean pods.
Photographer: Mauricio Palos/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Sweet-toothed consumers are facing double trouble with storms lashing the world’s top producer of vanilla – a beloved flavor for ice cream – even as surging cocoa prices bite into chocolate.
Madagascar’s key vanilla-growing region has been slammed by Cyclone Gamane, whose rain and high winds have flooded fields and stripped vanilla pods from their vines.