Top Fresh Produce Exporters in Comoros — Vanilla, Cloves, Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil & Coconut

KARANFOU NDJEMA is one of the flagship clove exporter cooperatives established under the ITC and UNDP Enhanced Integrated Framework project in Comoros. Operating from Anjouan island — the centre of Comorian clove production — the cooperative aggregates cloves from member farmers, handles quality drying, and manages export documentation through the Port of Mutsamudu. The cooperative received a BIC Anjouan (BNP Paribas subsidiary) trade finance loan of CFA 64 million for clove harvesting and export — the first commercial bank financing ever extended to Comorian agricultural producers.

Export lots of 22 tonnes and above are financed through the cooperative's mutualised collateral structure, which spreads risk and eliminates the need for individual farmer credit guarantees. Buyers can source Anjouan cloves at FOB Mutsamudu pricing with full export documentation including a Ministry of Agriculture phytosanitary certificate, a quality certificate (moisture ≤12%, essential oil content ≥15%), and a bill of lading through regular vessel services to Singapore, Turkey, and Marseille.

COOPDEHEM (Producteurs Distillateurs et Exportateurs des Huilles Essentielles de Mohéli) is the ITC-supported ylang-ylang cooperative on Mohéli, Comoros' smallest island and home to the archipelago's most pristine ylang-ylang groves. The cooperative operates seven distilleries using traditional steam distillation, producing Extra grade and Grade I ylang-ylang essential oil for the global fragrance industry. Mohéli's ylang-ylang is prized for its high linalool content and floral-sweet character.

The cooperative exports 400 litres of ylang-ylang oil per month, shipped via Moroni airport in airline-approved stainless steel containers or glass-lined drums. Every batch is accompanied by a GC/MS (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) certificate from an ISO-accredited laboratory confirming compositional purity and key marker compounds (linalool, geranyl acetate, benzyl acetate). Buyers in Grasse (France), Geneva (Switzerland), and New York (USA) are primary customers.

Vanilla Comores Premium is a Moroni-based vanilla processor and exporter, sourcing green vanilla pods from smallholder farmers across Grande Comore and Anjouan and applying traditional Bourbon-style curing over 5–6 months. The company's curing process produces Grade A vanilla beans with moisture content of 30–38%, vanillin content ≥1.6%, and a minimum length of 14 cm — meeting EU, US, and Japanese vanilla import standards.

The company is registered with Comoros' National Office for Vanilla and issues vanilla export certificates as required by importing countries. Annual export volumes are 15–25 tonnes of cured vanilla beans, exported in vacuum-sealed aluminium foil bags packed in wooden cases. Primary buyers are French and US vanilla ingredient companies, Swiss flavouring houses, and specialty food retailers. The company also produces vanilla extract (35% alcohol base) for US food manufacturers.

NectaLab is a Moroni-based beauty product company and ylang-ylang essential oil exporter founded by Comorian entrepreneur Houria Said Muhammed. The company receives ylang-ylang essential oil from island distilleries, performs secondary filtering and quality testing, and packages it as both a cosmetic ingredient and retail-ready aromatherapy product. NectaLab was one of the first Comorian companies to develop finished beauty products incorporating locally distilled essential oils.

Export products include 10 ml and 30 ml retail ylang-ylang essential oil bottles (EU CPNP-registered cosmetic product), ylang-ylang hydrosol (flower water), and a premium facial serum line sold to French natural cosmetics retailers. NectaLab holds EU cosmetics compliance documentation under Regulation EC 1223/2009 and can supply safety data sheets, IFRA compliance certificates, and product notification numbers for each formulation. Minimum order quantities are 100 units for retail products and 5 litres for bulk oil.

SACC is one of Comoros' longest-established agricultural trading companies, with operations across both Anjouan and Grande Comore. The company trades cloves, vanilla, ylang-ylang oil, and copra, providing buyers with a single-company solution for multiple Comorian commodities. SACC has established long-term relationships with French trading houses and Singapore-based commodity traders that handle the final distribution to Asian markets.

The company's clove export operation includes drying yards in Anjouan where freshly harvested cloves are sun-dried to ≤12% moisture before bagging in jute sacks. SACC provides buyers with a moisture analysis certificate and a Ministry of Agriculture phytosanitary certificate with each shipment. For vanilla, SACC sources from contracted farmers and applies traditional curing at its Anjouan facility. CIF Singapore, CIF Marseille, and FOB Mutsamudu pricing options are available.

The Comoro Clove Growers Alliance is a network of smallholder clove farmers operating across Anjouan's main clove-producing districts of Domoni, Ouani, and Sima. The alliance was formed with ITC support to provide collective bargaining power for pricing and to meet minimum lot sizes demanded by bulk clove traders in Singapore and Turkey. Member farmers bring cloves to central drying stations managed by the alliance.

CCGA's quality protocol requires drying to ≤12% moisture and a minimum essential oil content of 15% (Eugenol equivalent). Cloves are exported in 50 kg jute bags, with a weight certificate, quality certificate, and phytosanitary certificate accompanying each container. CCGA can supply 50–200 tonne lots per season through the Port of Mutsamudu. Buyers seeking smaller trial quantities of 5–10 tonnes can be accommodated through CCGA's stockpile facility in Mutsamudu.

Mohéli Organic Coconut Export sources coconuts from Mohéli's pristine coastal coconut groves and produces both virgin coconut oil (cold-pressed) and copra for export. Mohéli island's isolation from industrial agriculture means its coconut palms are de facto organic, and the company has pursued formal EU organic equivalence certification to access premium buyers in Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

Virgin coconut oil is cold-pressed within 24 hours of de-shelling, achieving a free fatty acid content of ≤0.5% and a lauric acid content of ≥47%. It is exported in 25-litre food-grade drums and 200-litre steel drums. Copra (dried coconut meat, moisture ≤6%, oil content ≥60%) is exported in 50 kg jute bags to EU coconut oil refineries and Indian processors. Annual volumes are 80 tonnes of virgin coconut oil and 200 tonnes of copra.

Aromatic Islands Export is a Moroni-based essential oil exporter focused on the high-value fragrance market, offering ylang-ylang Extra and Grade I alongside clove stem oil (Syzygium aromaticum stem, not bud) and clove bud oil. Clove stem oil — a lower-cost alternative to clove bud oil with similar eugenol content — is used by industrial flavourists and fragrance manufacturers as a cost-effective eugenol source.

All essential oil products are supplied with full GC/MS analysis from an EU-accredited laboratory, IFRA compliance certificates (confirming conformity with the International Fragrance Association usage guidelines for cosmetics), and safety data sheets in EU format. The company ships by air freight from Moroni (HAH airport) in airline-approved UN-rated containers. Minimum order is 1 litre for sample orders and 5 kg for commercial orders.

Barakani Vanilla Cooperative aggregates green vanilla pods from 220 member farmers on Grande Comore and applies a community-based curing process supervised by the cooperative's quality manager, a trained agronomist. The cooperative's vanilla is Bourbon-style cured over 5 months, achieving Grade A classification (moisture 30–35%, vanillin ≥1.6%, length ≥15 cm) for export to the EU and US specialty food market.

Barakani is pursuing Fairtrade certification and has completed its initial Fairtrade compliance audit. The Fairtrade premium — if certification is achieved — would fund community infrastructure including a vanilla curing shed and water storage for member farmers. Buyers can currently source Barakani vanilla on a Fairtrade-equivalent pricing structure in anticipation of formal certification. The cooperative ships vanilla via Moroni in insulated wooden cases with desiccant packs.

Sultan Spice Trading is an Anjouan-based spice exporter offering both whole dried cloves and processed spice products including ground cloves, cinnamon sticks (sourced from Madagascar and Sri Lanka for blending), and mixed spice blends designed for the Middle Eastern and European ethnic food markets. The company exports through the Port of Mutsamudu and has established relationships with spice importers in Turkey, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

For whole clove buyers, Sultan Spice provides Ministry of Agriculture phytosanitary certificates and a moisture/essential oil certificate. Ground cloves are packaged in nitrogen-flushed retail pouches (50g, 100g, 200g) under the company's own brand and in 25 kg bulk drums for industrial buyers. The company offers private-label packaging for European spice brands under a co-manufacturing arrangement, with minimum orders of 500 kg for bulk ground cloves.

CAEH operates as an export facilitation centre for smaller Comorian agricultural producers who lack the volume, documentation capacity, or trade finance access to export independently. The hub aggregates vanilla, ylang-ylang, cloves, and coconut products from 15 registered small producers across the three islands, provides documentation services (phytosanitary certificates, quality certificates, commercial invoices, certificates of origin), and arranges group export logistics.

CAEH has partnered with the Comoros Development Bank (BDC) and ITC to provide factoring services against confirmed purchase orders, enabling small producers to receive 80% of invoice value within 5 days of shipment and the balance on buyer payment. This trade finance structure is particularly valuable for European specialty food importers who require small, diverse lots of Comorian products. CAEH can arrange combined shipments of vanilla, ylang-ylang, and cloves in a single air freight consignment.