Several months have passed since Cyclone Enawo inflicted severe wind and flooding damage across Madagascar and especially in its northeastern vanilla growing regions on March 7, 2017. The source of about 80 percent of the world's vanilla production, Madagascar is among the top 10 countries in the world especially vulnerable to natural disasters. According to a report by the World Bank Group, Enawo was the worst storm to hit Madagascar since 2004. It is estimated that the storm inflicted approximately $400 million in damage, representing about 4 percent of the country's annual GDP.

Consistent with our commitment to the global vanilla industry and to the sustainability of the sector in Madagascar, both Nielsen-Massey Vanillas and the Nielsen-Massey Foundation have donated to a recovery program launched by the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI) and administered in Madagascar by CARE International. The relief program will target as many as 5000 households in the Antalaha vanilla growing areas that have been severely impacted by the storm, offering food and cash crop seeds, agricultural extension and tools, and support to replant vanilla vines.

We encourage you to make a donation to this important initiative; to learn more, please visit www.care.org/CycloneEnawoRelief.

Our team on the ground continues to assess the impact of the storm on the upcoming 2017/2018 vanilla campaign, overall supply availability and prices. The immediate result has been to drive already high prices for vanilla up, and they may increase further in the near term. Product quality may also be a casualty of the storm, as immature green vanilla beans salvaged in the storm's aftermath are being processed and brought to market. We are encouraged that the Malagasy government has stepped in to support the industry during this challenging period.

As always, we invite you to send us your questions, and promise to continue to update you about what's going on in the global vanilla sector. We are committed to serving the needs of our customers across the food manufacturing, food service and retail sectors, and to upholding our reputation as the world's leading supplier of high-quality pure vanilla products during this challenging period for the industry.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at sales@nielsenmassey.com.

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