Too much nicotine in vanilla, according to Europe
The European Union has decided to postpone the application of a maximum residual limit of nicotine in vanilla until January 2024, which was initially due to come into force on September 15 and risked closing the doors of the European market to part of Malagasy production. The European Food Safety Authority will rule early next year on the quantity of nicotine tolerable without risk to consumer health. The reason for the presence of nicotine residue in the pods remains to be determined. It could be natural or result from environmental contamination. Currently, 40% of Madagascar’s vanilla is sold on the European market.
The Chinese market widely open to Malagasy products
An agreement signed in early September between Madagascar and the People's Republic of China has extended the list of Malagasy products exempt from customs duties when they enter the Chinese market. From now on, 98% of products from the Big Island benefit from this exemption. China mainly imports mining and seafood products from Madagascar.
Malagasy graphite for South Korea
The company NextSource Materials, which has just started extracting graphite from the new Molo mine, southeast of Tuléar, announced in early September the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean group Posco. This last, whose core sector is the steel industry, expands its activities to the manufacturing of materials for rechargeable batteries. Posco plans to purchase several tens of thousands of tons per year of graphite concentrate and purified spherical graphite from NextSource Materials, two products used in the production of battery anodes for electric vehicles. The Big Island is the second largest producer of graphite in the world, behind Mozambique. Posco signs another supply agreement with mining companies operating in Tanzania.
