The Russian / Ukrainian situation

Where does botanical sourcing sit?

Beacon Commodities have been following the events in Ukraine closely and are appalled with President Putin’s actions and the suffering it has caused to Ukraine and its people.

Solidarity with Ukraine

For a number of years, Beacon Commodities has sourced coriander from Russia and Ukraine. To show support for Ukraine, the sourcing of Russian coriander will cease immediately and any profits from the remaining stock will be donated straight to Save the Children Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Concentrating on botanicals, let’s start with the more positive news. Apart from coriander, there are no other significant botanicals that will be affected by this invasion.

botanicals coriander harvest ukraine
coriander seeds on spoon

Largest producers of coriander

Russia and Ukraine are the two largest producers of coriander but unless peace is declared soon, not much will be exported this year. Planting usually takes place in February-March but given events it is likely the acreages will be significantly lower. One of the main Russian growing regions is Rostov-on-Don which is near the Ukrainian border. Beacon Commodities want to avoid using Russian botanicals in protest and solidarity with Ukraine.

It is unlikely that Ukraine will be able to plant/harvest/export their coriander given the circumstances. A grim view indeed!

tommy haughton beacon commodities field

Coriander demand in Asia

Most of the world’s coriander is used to make curry powders, even up to 35% of a curry powder can be coriander – so the main buyers are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and other South East Asian nations. They normally buy thousands of tons from Russia and Ukraine. They will now try and source from Morocco, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary but their production is limited. They will also grow wheat whose price is currently rising fast.

For example, on 7th March, the Egyptian Government increased the price of bread by 50%, as 80% of their wheat comes from Ukraine.

Morocco suffering drought

Unfortunately, this problem might be exacerbated by the situation in Morocco. Morocco is predicting the worst drought in decades. Coriander can also come from Canada, Argentina, Australia and India but with current freight rates from these origins it will make them incredibly expensive.

juniper berry crop for gin ingredients

Sussex coriander

As many of you will know we grow over 40 acres of coriander here in Sussex, but the planting rotation has already been set for this year, so we cannot increase our coriander acreage until 2023.

Prices will rise significantly but there will be coriander available given the World produces over half a million tons per annum, but at a price.

Please contact:
Tommy on 07900 244 939 or
or
Michael on 01273 844 264 or