Vanilla prices soar is fetching upwards of $600 per kilogram—that’s around ten times more than it cost only a few years ago. The price surge is thanks to a crop shortage in Madagascar, the country that supplies around 80
per cent of the world’s natural vanilla.

Last March, Cyclone Enawo tore through Madagascar, and earlier this year Cyclone Eva struck Northern Madagascar, knocking flowers off vines and leading to a 15 to 20 per cent loss of vanilla beans.

A report by The Economist said, “Extreme weather, weak crop-security, and exporters who hoard inventory and speculate on further rises have also kept prices high.”

Vanilla Prices Soar

Added to this is the general difficulty of growing vanilla in the first place (it takes nine months between pollination and harvest, and then three to four months more of blanching, sweating and drying the beans) and an increase in demand of the spice over imitation syrups, and prices are sky high.