Vanilco misses procurement target by a mile

Vanilla India Producers' Company (Vanilco) has procured 132 tonne green beans this season. The figure falls below the targeted quantity of 250 tonne.

Since the production season has already come to the fag end, any major increase in the procurement figure is impossible in the next couple of months, said Paul Jose, managing director, Vanilco.

Vanilla production in the state this season has declined to 250-270 tonne on account of low yield. Last season, the production had gone above 300 tonne and the total output in the country stood at 500 tonne. But the average price realisation is rather low this season, Jose said.

Though there has been a marginal increase in the export of cured beans, earnings dropped considerably in the current fiscal. Exports increased to 20.7 tonne during April-December 2005 from 17.7 tonne in the year-ago period. However, earnings plummeted to Rs 4.53 crore from Rs 23.56 crore.

The reason for the drop in export income is the steep fall in prices in the global market. The average price per kg has dropped from $200 in 2004 to $40-45 in the current year.

During 2005, processed vanilla beans fetched $70-75. The average unit value of vanilla extract slumped to Rs 2,200.05 from Rs 15,226.91 in April-October 2004. Jose said since the price realisation is low on the export front, Vanilco is focusing more on the domestic market and value addition.

Value addition had fetched an average price of $65-70 a kg for cured beans in the domestic market itself. Vanilco has not exported vanilla so far owing to a supply crunch. The company has signed an agreement with Amul and Kerala State Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) for supplying vanilla extract.

Milma plans to use natural extracts in all its milk-based products and requires 200 kg vanilla annually. Jose said Vanilco is not in a position to meet the domestic demand for natural extracts as the demand is on the rise.

The company is also negotiating with big corporates such as Hindustan Lever and ITC to market its products.

The company is also in the process of marketing various other vanilla-based products and had recently introduced vanilla perfumes and virgin oil.

Vanilla coffee will be introduced soon and the company is planning to add more products to its portfolio.

There is good demand for products like vanilla tea, vanilla sugar, powder and crystal vanilla, which are some of the value added products of Vanilco.