Vanilla Price. Reasons for Changes

Vanilla Price. Reasons for Changes

I Lead-in

A Think of a product whose price has changed a lot recently. How did the price change? Why do you think those changes took place?

B What products are likely to become cheaper over the next few month? What products might become more expensive?

C How do the changes in products and food influence the life of farmers?

II Study the active vocabulary and focus on Ukrainian equivalents of English words.

go-to оптимальний

 flavour аромат

shoot up швидко зростати

suited відповідний

primary провідний

export crop експортна культура

demand попит

trend тенденція

shun уникати

the real deal те,що треба

cash in нажитися

fluctuation коливання

affect впливати

agricultural commodity сільськогосподарський товар

volatile нестійкий

plummet стрімко падати

negotiate домовлятись

point of sale пункт продажу

knock out вибити

entire цілий

delicate тендітний

orchid орхідея

rainforest тропічний ліс

roughly приблизно

vine лоза

manual ручний

rotted згнилий

target обирати мішенню

resort to вдаватися до

ultimately зрештою

push down звалити

deteriorate погіршуватися

 price bubble цінова бульбашка (торгівля за ціною, яка значно розходиться зі справжньою ціною на товар, зокрема за завищеною ціною)

burst луснути

play out  розвиватись (про ситуацію)

distressful болісний

theft крадіжка

violence насильство

crash out вирватись на волю

  to look elsewhere    шукати в іншому місці

be in line for чекати

overhaul реорганізація

 III Watch the video and fill in the gaps with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to use.

delicate; plummet; drop; plum; alive; agricultural commodities; negotiated; climate; aggravated mode; orchid; farmers; crop; dedicate; later; tiny; export; synthetic flavouring; manual; reason; affect; volatile; rainforest; ice cream; trend; price; acclimatize; flavour; sweeter; rotted; natural; sweeten

From 1)______ _____ to cakes and even perfume, vanilla is the go-to 2)______ the world over. In recent years the price of 3)______ vanilla has shot up. At one point it was more expensive than 4)______ by weight.

80% of the world’s vanilla is grown in the perfectly suited 5)______ of the north-east region of Madagascar. It’s the country’s primary 6)______ crop. For the farmers, like Beni Odon life is far sweeter when the vanilla price is high.

In 2014 vanilla was $80 a kilo. Three years 7)______ it was $600. Today it’s around $500. The 8)______ rise is due in part to global demand. The 9)______ of eating naturally means that food companies have shunned 10)______  _____ in favour of the real deal. Beni and the other 11)______ are cashing in.

But things can change very quickly. Price fluctuations 12)______ producers of 13)______    _______everywhere, but vanilla is particularly 14)______. In just a few weeks the price can jump, or 15)______, by over 20%. Liberalisation is one 16)______ for such movements. The Malagasy government once regulated the vanilla industry and its price. But now the price is 17)______ at the point of sale which makes for a freer market but a more volatile one.

It’s also a 18)______ industry. A single cyclone can knock out the entire 19)______ within Madagascar. It’s also a difficult and 20)______ crop to grow.

Vanilla is an 21)______ that needs to be hand pollinated. This is a really, really labour-intensive practice. If anyone has grown an orchid at home you experience how difficult it is to keep an orchid 22)______ in your house, now try growing this in the middle of a Malagasy 23)______. It takes roughly six months to grow it on the vine and then six months of 24)______ post-harvesting. Now the interesting thing about vanilla is you need to take it off the vine when it’s almost 25)______.

IV Match the words from two columns to make collocations used in the text. Use four collocations in your sentences.

1.	go-to	a)	export crop
2.	natural	b)	up
3.	shoot	c)	weight
4.	at one	d)	commodities
5.	by	e)	naturally
6.	perfectly	f)	of sale
7.	primary	g)	suited
8.	due in	h)	in
9.	global	i)	of
10.	trend of eating	j)	flavour
11.	synthetic	k)	practice
12.	in favour	l)	market
13.	the real	m)	off
14.	cash	n)	demand
15.	price	o)	fluctuation
16.	agricultural	p)	out
17.	at the point	q)	flavouring
18.	free	r)	deal
19.	knock	s)	vanilla
20.	labour-intensive	t)	part to
21.	take	u)	point

V Watch the part of the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct the false ones.

1 Vanilla can be used as a flavour in ice cream, cakes, perfume, and medicine.

2 At one moment vanilla was more expensive than gold by weight.

3 Most of vanilla is grown in the north-west of Manila.

4 Vanilla is the primary export crop for Madagascar.

5 Growth of vanilla price is the result of the growth in demand.

6 Today more companies and people choose synthetic vanilla.

7 Price of vanilla can change very quickly.

8 Madagascar government and business groups regulate the prices of vanilla.

9 Now vanilla price is negotiated at the point of sale.

10 Vanilla is a tree.

11 Farmers pollinate vanilla manually.

12 It takes 16 months to grow vanilla.

13 Farmers take vanilla off the vine while it’s still green.

VI Watch the video again.

A)   focus on the story of Beni Odon, a farmer who grows vanilla. Write down at least 2 things that have changed in his life (and the lives of other farmers in the village) because vanilla became more expensive.

B)  Think about the ways Beni’s and other farmers’ lives would change if the price goes down again?

C)   Get ready to discuss pros and cons of vanilla price changes with other students.

VII Watch the video and fill in the gaps in the text.

The growers have to contend with another 1)_____. Thieves are targeting the 2)_____crops.

So Malagasy now are 3)_____out in their vanilla fields. They can’t rely on those who are charged from the 4)_____to protect them or protect their crop. They’re having to take 5)_____into their own hands and this has really caused some problems, vigilante 6)_____, and a whole host of other 7)_____connected to vanilla.

Some farmers have resorted to harvesting the 8)_____before they’re ripe, but this produces a poorer 9)_____vanilla and ultimately pushes down the price.

The combination of deteriorating quality and 10)_____prices is having an effect. The vanilla price 11)_____may burst.

 If the price continues to stay high, there’s a number of scenarios that will 12)_____out. We can continue as we are now and have a relatively 13)_____market where farmers are growing vanilla under very, very distressful conditions of 14)_____and violence. You could have the state and corporate 15)_____step in and try to re-regulate the market in some way. That might stabilise prices and also 16)_____. Or you might just have the 17)_____crash out. 

Big 18)_____that provide vanilla for the likes of Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s are now working directly with farmers in a bid to gain greater 19)_____over quality. Other companies have started to look elsewhere for their 20)_____vanilla. Indonesia, Uganda and even the Netherlands are growing the 21)_____. For a century Madagascar has enjoyed a near-monopoly on vanilla. But this industry may be in line for a 22)_____overhaul.

VIII Match the words from two columns to make collocations used in the text. Use four collocations in your sentences.

1.	contend	a)	into their own hands
2.	rely	b)	prices
3.	to take matters	c)	unstable market
4.	caused	d)	out
5.	vigilante	e)	justice
6.	resort	f)	bubble
7.	push	g)	in
8.	deteriorating	h)	to
9.	price	i)	control
10.	play	j)	down the price
11.	relatively	k)	a near-monopoly on
12.	distressful	l)	with a problem
13.	state	m)	for
14.	step	n)	elsewhere for
15.	stabilise	o)	and corporate sectors
16.	crash	p)	overhaul
17.	to gain	q)	problems
18.	to look	r)	conditions
19.	enjoy	s)	quality
20.	be in line	t)	out
21.	radical	u)	on

IX Watch the part of the video and answer the questions.

1 What problems do vanilla farmers have?

2 How can government help farmers? Does government choose to help them?

3 How can farmers solve the problems with violence and theft connected to vanilla?

4 How is price of vanilla changing now? How does the decision to pick unripe vanilla influence its price?

5 What might happen to vanilla price in future?

6 What are the scenarios that the situation with vanilla prices may follow?

7 Who can help regulate vanilla market?

8 What countries provide alternative sources of vanilla?

X OVER TO YOU.

A)  Study the texts above and watch both parts of the video again. Write out the verbs that are used to describe the changes in vanilla price. Divide those verbs into 3 groups: a) verbs that mean that price goes up; b) verbs that mean that price goes down; c) verbs that mean that price remains the same or changes insignificantly.

B)   Draw a graph that shows the price changes for vanilla. Describe the graph using the verbs from task A

C)   Think of a product and service whose price has recently changed. Draw a graph and describe the price change (over the period of at least 5 years).