Vanilla Beans (Madagascar, Uganda, Indonesia, PNG)

Gourmet black and extraction red vanilla by moisture and vanillin

Vanilla (HS 0905) is priced by the kilogram and graded by what the buyer does with it. Gourmet or Grade A (black) beans are plump and pliable, typically 25–35% moisture with vanillin normally in the 2–3.5% range, and are bought whole by chefs, patisserie and retail packers. Extraction or Grade B (red) beans are drier, typically around 22–27% moisture, and are bought by extract houses because less water means more flavour per kilogram; cuts are the broken and short material for extraction and grinding. Madagascar dominates the trade: UN Comtrade 2024 put it at 63.6% of world export value, declaring 4,544 MT at an average USD 50,952/MT, with Uganda at 603 MT and USD 36,382/MT and Indonesia at 257 MT. Madagascar and Indonesia grow Vanilla planifolia (Bourbon type); Papua New Guinea grows mainly Vanilla tahitensis, which has a different, more floral profile and should be specified by name.

The market has fallen hard. Madagascar removed its USD 250/kg minimum export price in May 2023, and 2026 trade references reported in the Malagasy market sit around USD 50/kg for gourmet black, USD 25/kg for long red and USD 15/kg for cuts, with some distressed lots lower still. Those are reference levels, not quotes. The contractible numbers are moisture, vanillin percentage, bean length, split percentage and the species, and they should be certified by an independent laboratory on the loaded lot. EU entry runs against Regulation (EC) 396/2005 pesticide MRLs and US entry against EPA tolerances under 40 CFR 180 and FDA. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers vanilla to extract and flavour manufacturers, ice cream, dairy and bakery producers, patisserie and food-service distributors and retail packers, against a certificate of analysis, phytosanitary certificate and certificate of origin, vacuum-packed and boxed in cartons, by air or container, on FOB, CFR, CIF and CPT terms. Send the grade, moisture band, vanillin floor, length and species with your RFQ.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.