Soaring Madagascan vanilla price threatening to increase cost of ice creams
Consumers may have noticed the price of their Easter eggs going up this year thanks to increasing sugar and chocolate prices.
And now for some more bad news.
The soaring cost of vanilla could push up the price of your ice cream this summer.
Read more: Why your easter egg is more expensive this year
Following a poor harvest, Madagascan vanilla prices went up by nearly 150 per cent last year.
Charlie Thuillier, the managing director of ice-cream company Oppo, told The Guardian: “The price has doubled in the last month. We were paying €35 (£28) a litre in February but now it’s €76.”
Read more: Cracking Easter (egg) news: Chocolate makes you smarter
He said vanilla can be bought from other nations but that Madagascar offers the “greatest depth of flavour”.
According to commodities intelligence service Mintec, the price of Madagascan vanilla bean increased from £59 a kilogram at the beginning of 2015 to £144 in January this year.