CINNAMON OR TRUE CINNAMON - Intercom Exports

years exports have generally been in the 400-1000 ton range. It is probable that
Madagascar will continue to be an exporter of some importance.
In most years, at least one half of Sri Lanka’s exports are destinated for the USA
and Mexico. In the USA, cinnamon is used in conventional spice applications but the
large Mexican market is due almost entirely to consumption of cinnamon tea whoch is so
popular there. Since 1972 however, there have been reports of a joint West German
Mexican venture to manufacture a synthetic cinnamon powder, as a result of which
Mexican imports of cinnamon have been subject to severe restrictions. Of the other
buyers of Sri Lanka cinnamon, Peru and West Germany are prominent. In the case of
Seychelles cinnamon, the UK, with its traditional overseas connections, used to be by far
the most important buyer but the USA now dominates this market, followed by the UK
and then, at some distance, the German Federal Republic, the Netherlands and France.
Madagascan cinnamon is destinated mainly for France and the USA.
MARKET SRUCTURE
In the main importing countries, cinnamon and cassia are mainly handled by the
same network of produce merchants, brokers and dealers as in the case of other spices
such as cloves and nutmegs. It seems probable that the number of middlemen, both in the
exporting and in the importing countries, is declining. Considerable use is made of
entrepots, probably more so than with either of the 2 spices just mentioned, in so far as
Antwerp, Hong Kong Macao and probably Taiwan are clearly of greater importance, in
the case of cinnamon and cassia. More over, there appears to be a considerable trade
between the 2 entrepots Hong Kong and Singapore.
A large proportion of mainland China’s exports of cassia were traditionally routed
through Hong Kong and to a lesser extent, Macao where a substantial proportion of the
bark was cleaned and regarded before re-export. However, the marketing pattern for
Chinese cassia has changed somewhat since the mid 1950’s, particukarly since the
removal of the trade embargo on China by the USA in 1971. direct sales of Chinese
cassia to the major importers has increased, conducted usually through the bi-annual
conton trade fair, and the importance of Hong Kong seems to have diminished.
According to information supplied by the Hong Kong Department of Agricul;ture and