OUR QUALITY POLICY : TO PROVIDE OUR CUSTOMERS WITH HIGH QUALITY SPICE INGREDIENTS MEETING OR EXCEEDING THEIR EXPECTATIONS WHILE ENSURING ON-TIME DELIVERY

In April we once again visited SIAU "the nutmeg island", and as always it was an exciting experience… as a consequence of Japan’s earthquake & tsunami, the volcano on this island also erupted, and until today remains active; at night we could still see the lava bursting and flowing on top of "Karangetang", a magnificent sight.

We took a trip around the island checking key nutmeg plantations, but were disappointed to see very few nutmeg and consequently many fallen trees. Only small quantities in few scattered areas were found, drying along the roadside. 

The weather for the last 12 months is the main culprit, with very heavy rains making it more & more difficult for nutmeg farmers to dry their crop properly. Earlier this year, it was predicted that 2011 would be better than 2010, but with the extreme weather conditions things are likely heading in a different direction.

The story is very much the same for clove, where bad weather is to blame for what promises to be a very poor 2011 crop. The crop normally begins in April in the Western part of the archipelago (Sumatra) and then spreads to the Eastern part (Java and Sulawesi / Manado/ Tondano).

Up until March prices were pretty stable, but in April the word spread between all the local players and prices started moving up. In less than 4 weeks prices shot up 40 %. As always in a situation like this prices do not reflect fundamental supply and demand mechanism, but rather emotion (farmers who hold stock refuse to sell, hoping prices will keep increasing - this generates a supply issue which leads to a price hike ...)

So in summary since the beginning of 2011, clove and nutmeg raw material prices have shot up respectively 52 % and 34 % in US$ terms.

We can expect a bumpy road in 2011 for both nutmeg and clove, with the classic paradox of price increase and dropping quality. - Olivier B & Talita M

For those who know my brother and I, you probably already know that we were raised on the island of Sumatra, not very far from the cinnamon growing area… Indonesia became our adoptive country (Olivier and I even winded up being neighbors in Bali!!!). Our father, Pepe, was involved back in the days in an Indonesian timber company & it was when recently my dad was visiting us in Bali, that after a couple of weeks of interaction with the grandchildren (between the 2 of us we have 5) it was obvious that we needed to find him something to do far from the house. Since we were due for a survey of our cinnamon suppliers in Sumatra, we asked him if he was interested to do it (we didn’t need to really to convince him, he offered to pay for his own trip!). All jokes aside, the survey was a real success.
We identified a new area where the sticks were of much better quality, strangely enough you have trees that are more suitable for sticks and others that are better for grinding. With secured supplies, we decided to invest in cutting machines so we would control the entire process (we opted for the machine where you don’t loose your fingers - the machines they currently use on the mountain are straight out of a Wes Craven movie).
In the months to come we’ll start inventorying 2.75” and 6” sticks in the US, other sizes will be made to order. So if you order your sticks and you are happy with the quality, remember to thank Pépé.
- Francois B

Back in January, in an effort to streamline our packaging, we decided to go to a generic box for all our spices. This didn’t make everyone happy, especially our Dragon Cinnamon buyers, after receiving a ton of complaints we were forced to re-introduce our well-recognized logo, but we decided to do it with a twist…
I hope you’ll like the new logo as much as we do. - Francois B

During the course of 2010 we have witnessed a sudden appreciation of the local Rupiah currency, but each time that happened the Bank of Indonesia intervened to curb the trend and kept the currency from appreciating too much. This government policy has clearly changed in 2011. Foreign funds are constantly being invested in Indonesia (in the form of bonds, stocks …) where the yields are significantly higher than those of Europe or the USA, and as a result the Rupiah appreciated (see chart below). This is obviously hurting exporters, but the government sees this appreciation as a way to curb inflation which is always a risk in emerging economies.
Currently trading at 8,500 against the USD, some analysts predict it could appreciate as low as 8,000 before the end of the year.
- Olivier B

Chart showing Rupiah/USD in 2011
(Jan, Feb, March , April, YTD)

As per mid April, we have completed 60% of the building. The fact that we are ahead of schedule means we need to finalize other related sections faster as well. These sections include manpower arrangement, machineries & other equipments (uninstall, transport and re-install), paper works and electricity. At this point, our target is set at June 15, 2011 for the new TRIPPER MM facility to start operating.
- Valen S

Sunday, April 3rd 2011 was a very memorable day for most family members of Tripper Nature Bali. We finally got out of “the cage”. The first outing was held at Bali Safari Marine Park, located in Gianyar… and we hope will not be our last! With 200 Tripper employees, including their families, we gathered together by bus to Bali Safari Marine Park. We all got together to meet our animal friends, which represent our spice products (Dragon Cinnamon™, Rhino Nutmeg™ and many more). The activity took all day, with team building games for adults and smacking the piñata for children. Everyone had a great time, good laughs, even through the rains that we couldn’t avoid. In the end, we all had to say good-bye to our dear animal friends and hope we can see them again soon.
- Meidy V