On Location: Vanilla 2007, Day One

Posted: December 12, 2007

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Andres Del Angel Lopez Salas presented a detailed statistical analysis of historical and projected vanilla production and pricing. One of the more interesting—though not universally accepted—conclusions of his analysis was the correlation between vanilla bean prices and the stock prices of large food and beverage manufacturers, whose products use large quantities of vanilla.

Additional presentations on day one included:

• “Vanilla Quality Control” by Arvind Ranadive of Premier Vanilla
• “Calibration Study for Vanilla Analyses” by Charles Zapf of McCormick & Co.
• “Organic Vanilla—It’s the Right Thing to Do” by Hank Kaestner of Dammann & Co.
• “Patenting in the Vanilla Industry” by Janet Reed of Drinker, Biddle & Reath
• “Fair Trade—the Future of Vanilla” by Rick Brownell of Virginia Dare Extract Co.