A dramatic turn of events in Antalaha the day before yesterday. Vanilla exporters voted to liberalize the market.
A flip-flop. Vanilla exporters backtracked. Meeting in Antalaha the day before yesterday after a first meeting at the Carlton last week, they voted to liberalize the vanilla market. However, a fortnight ago after demonstrations in Antalaha against the measures taken by the State in 2020, they accepted the State’s proposal to solve the vanilla problem, namely the opening of the National Vanilla Council in other members, the granting of new licenses, the 70-30 rule regarding the repatriation of foreign currency.
It was therefore believed to have ironed out the differences between the State and the operators, far from it. Exporters met in Tana last week to finalize the resolutions taken in Antalaha. The meeting did not lead to clear decisions. Discussions continued in Antalaha on Monday. The session ended with a vote on possible solutions. Liberalization of the sector won the majority of votes.
Protect the planters
The Minister of Industrialization, Trade and Consumer Affairs took note of the exporters’ decision. All the efforts undertaken so far have been made with the aim of protecting the growers and also of preserving one of the leading export products. Vanilla weighs in the six hundred million dollars a year in export earnings. The liberalization of the sector has been demanded by various entities including chancelleries, donors, politicians, churches. Exporters will fully assume the consequences of their decision. In the 90s, vanilla experienced the same situation. Because of a disordered market where everyone did what he liked, the price of vanilla had plummeted. The power of the time had decided to burn all the stock of vanilla at the exporters to revive the market. There is thus a risk of falling back into these regrettable mistakes.