Flavours company to import Madagascan vanilla
American flavours company Virginia Dare has established a partnership with Soarary, a Madagascan vanilla exporter. The partnership will provide Virginia Dare with a fully integrated supply chain for securing, curing and exporting vanilla beans from Madagascar.
With so much of the world’s vanilla production coming from a single country, local operations in Madagascar will strengthen Virginia Dare’s ability to ensure the availability, quality and consistency of its vanilla extracts and flavours during periods of market instability and supply shortages.
Howard Smith, president of Virginia Dare, comments, “Markets never stop evolving and the vanilla market is no exception. Recent changes in the Malagasy vanilla supply chain make the decision to become more locally active there the right one for our company and our customers.”
Its decision to establish a presence in the largest producing country in the world is both market driven and pragmatic, according to company management. “Madagascar represents roughly 80% of world vanilla production today and is the international reference in terms of quality and market trends,” says Rick Brownell, Virginia Dare’s vice president of vanilla products. “Adopting a more vertically integrated approach to vanilla sourcing there allows us to respond to growing consumer demand for traceability and sustainability of foods and food ingredients.”
