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Vanilla

Vanilla

An expertise acquired over one century

Touton started trading vanilla in the late 19th century. Nowadays, it remains a major player in the natural vanilla market, buying vanilla wholesale, exporting vanilla and linking vanilla producers with vanilla processors. Touton vanilla is sold to customers in the aromatic and perfume industry, as well as the food-processing sector.

Origins

Touton sources both gourmet and industrial vanilla, as well as vanilla derivatives from:

  • Madagascar : ‘Bourbon’, Vanilla planifolia
  • Papua New Guinea : Vanilla tahitensis
  • Tahiti : Vanilla tahitensis
  • Uganda : Vanilla planifolia
  • Comoro : ‘Bourbon’, Vanilla planifolia

Trade

Touton offers a variety of vanilla qualities to its customers.

GOURMET VANILLA

Black vanilla and vanilla TK. Interesting fact: the name “vanilla TK” originates from Touton! It stands for “Touton Quatrième,” later shortened to “T. Quatre” and then abbreviated to “TK” by Chinese processors.

Luxury vanilla with high moisture content, between 30% and 40%. It is chocolate brown to black in color and can have several reddish filaments (for the famous TK type). The vanilla pod is plump and supple, strongly scented, and flavorful. This type of vanilla is used mostly in artisanal cooking, baking and ice cream, delicatessen, and retail market.

INDUSTRIAL VANILLA (EXTRACTION GRADES)

Depending on its moisture level, whether split or whole this vanilla is drier than Gourmet Vanilla. It is brownish red in color and has a clean, pronounced vanilla scent.

This type of vanilla is mostly used for industrial purposes, either as an extract (in perfumes and aromatics) or directly in the food processing industry (in industrial pastries, ice creams and chocolates).

VANILLA DERIVATIVES

  • Grounded vanilla beans: Made of whole vanilla pods grounded into a powder. Particles are uniform in size and the quality is high. Vanilla powder is highly sought after by bakers and artisans. Our powder is sterilised with dry steam.
  • Vanilla seeds: Found inside the vanilla pod, vanilla seeds have no aromatic qualities and are generally used in combination with natural vanilla extracts for visual impact (black specks). The sterilised seeds,are either collected during the extraction phase, then dried or are harvested naturally at the source when the pods are prepared.
  • Tailor made vanilla beans: we are able meet any specific requirements to meet our clients’ needs. Vanilla beans can be delivered cutted, grinded, steam sterilised, etc.

PACKAGING

Touton can adapt its vanilla packaging according to request. Our standard packaging formats are:

  • Cardboard boxes with wax paper of 15 kg to 20 kg
  • Vacuum packed for optimal preservation: only for beans, mostly gourmet grade from 250 g to 5 kg packages
  • PE Sealed bags for seeds and powder from 250 g to 5 kg packages
  • Sewed kraft bags with PE liner of 15 kg to 20kg

Sustainable sourcing

Touton was one of the first companies to join the Sustainable Vanilla Initiative (SVI) that was launched in 2015 by the Dutch Sustainability Initiative (IDH). This platform gathers supply-chain actors and aims to identify key areas for industry support to vanilla producers.

We can source vanilla beans with diverse certifications such as Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, or Organic.

As a supply chain manager, we build close relationships with local producers and communities on the ground. In partnership with local exporters and producers’ associations, we have set up sustainability programs to improve living income, and empower communities, whilst protecting forests and ecosystems, in Madagascar and most recently in Uganda.

We leverage on our capacity as a multicommodity buyer to support crop diversification programmes, especially in Uganda where we have set up our East African sustainability hub. Vanilla is one the main crops, together with cocoa, coffee, and chilli, that we encourage producers to grow to diversify and improve their living income. We remain available to co-construct customised and impactful sustainability programmes to meet both local producers’ needs and global processors CSR engagements.

EurofeuilleFairtradeRainforest Alliance

Partnerships

SVI

Spices & Ingredients

Spices & Ingredients

A key component of Touton’s bustling trade activity

Spice and ingredients trade have played a major role in the development of Touton’s activities since the group’s foundation in the mid 19 thCentury

Origins

Originally, Touton’s spice and ingredients business was conducted through its subsidiary ‘Sivanil’ which was later reabsorbed into the company.

The spices and ingredients division began trading in spices in 2005 and African products in 2011. Today, the division offers a comprehensive line of products, mostly from Madagascar, Africa and Asia.

Quality is assured by the combination of expertise in the spice and ingredients industry and Touton’s solid experience. With office locations in the countries that produce its spices and ingredients, Touton oversees and controls merchandise at the very source.

Trade

Touton offers a variety of spices and natural ingredients, from cinammon to cloves, annato seeds, pepper, sesame seeds, ginger and bees’ wax.
Most of our ingredients are sourced in Africa (Madagascar, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Comores, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Uganda) while others are sourced in Indonesia and Vietnam. Touton remains flexible to meet customers’ specific needs year on year.

Sustainable sourcing

Like most food stuffs, the natural ingredients’ sector is also initiating sustainability activities in origin countries. Touton is currently looking at developing projects to support ingredient producers in its key origins.

Coffee

Coffee

Sourcing quality arabica and robusta green coffee

Touton offers coffee from some fifteen Robusta and Arabica origins supplied directly from the producing regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Through the diversity of supply sources, and through regular exchanges between coffee traders and local stakeholders, the Group offers a wide range of coffees to its customers.

Since 2017, Touton Specialties offers high quality nano and micro lots, farm coffees and certified coffees from various origins.

Origins
 

Origins

Trade
 

Trade

Origins

Touton first started trading green coffee in Ivory Coast over twenty years ago. The range of origins was rapidly expanded in order to meet the growing needs of the coffee industry throughout the world.
Driven by the development of its coffee business, in 2014 the group acquired Socadec SA, a coffee trading company based in Geneva. In 2016 Socadec becomes Touton Genève.

Touton Genève now offers coffee from some fifteen Robusta and Arabica origins supplied directly from the producing regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Trade

The coffee department’s strength builds on its knowledge and strong presence in the producing countries. Touton Genève relies on its African and Asian representative offices and is also working in partnership with local exporters and exclusive other local agents in Africa, Asia and in Latin America. Touton Genève is committed to ensuring the quality of its products and manages the logistics from origin up until delivery.

Processing

Touton has three factories, in Vietnam, in Côte d'Ivoire and in Uganda. These factories allow us to produce coffee according to our customers' specific quality requirements.

Sustainable sourcing

Touton is committed to the development of a sustainable supply chain that promotes the implementation of good agricultural, economic, social and environmental practices. We provide 4C, UTZ, Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade coffee. We also support and implement sustainability programmes for specific customers.

In 2016 Touton joined 300 other coffee organisations in the Global Coffee Platform. Combining the expansive membership of the 4C Association with the pre-competitive activities of the Sustainable Coffee Program, the Global Coffee Platform is an inclusive multi-stakeholder platform that aims to align the activities of a diverse network of stakeholders towards reaching the sector’s global sustainability commitments.

Partnerships

4C
GPC

Cocoa

Cocoa

We trade and process premium quality cocoa

Touton has been a major player in global cocoa trade for decades. In addition to sourcing cocoa beans and cocoa derivatives, Touton now also processes cocoa liquour in Ghana. The cornerstone of the company’s cocoa business is our strong footing in the countries where the ingredients are grown, which allows us to maintain control over the supply of products from origin right up to delivery to customers around the world.

Origins

The cornerstone of Touton’s cocoa supply chain is the company’s presence in the countries where we source our products, which gives us strict control very early on in the process over the quality of merchandise destined for the cocoa market or for export.

Over the years, Touton has invested in facilities for the collection and export of cocoa in Africa’s top cocoa producing countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Maintaining direct control over cocoa production sites allows TOUTON to guarantee the quality of cocoa it exports.

Trade

Touton has been trading cocoa beans for several decades.
By forming strategic partnerships with businesses at the source, Touton has also developed trading in cocoa derivatives (including chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa powder and cocoa cake) for European, American and Asian markets.

Processing

In 2015 Touton initiated its industrial development with the acquisition of a cocoa liquor factory in Tema, near Accra. The Group has also signed a tolling agreement for cocoa butter, cake and powder with CPC factory, also based in Tema. Through its historical purchases of cocoa beans, its investments and the presence of an experienced team on its production sites, the Group offers its customers a steady supply of quality products.

MASS/LIQUOR/PASTE

The capacity of CTPC has been increased to 32 000 tons of beans through investments on new equipment. The site is certified FSSC 22 000, UTZ, Kosher and Halal.
Through local bean-supply agreements and its own sustainable sourcing activities, Touton ensures traceability all along the supply chain from the originating farm to the delivery of the liquor to the customers all over the world.
CTPC offers different mass organoleptic profiles with customized roasting recipes to meet customers’ specific needs.Mass that is destined for European customers is melted in Northern Europe and delivered by tanker to the chocolate factories.

BUTTER

The CPC factory currently has the capacity to press 25 000 tons of beans into natural cocoa butter.
On demand, Touton can organize the melting and deodorization of this butter in Europe and thus ensure liquid delivery.

CAKE/POWDER

The 10/12 natural cakes produced at CPC can be ground for the production of 10/12 natural powder.

Sustainable sourcing

The company’s first sustainability programmes date back to the end of the 1990’s when the group started working on projects to increase cocoa farmers’ livelihoods around its own SAO (Société Agricole de l’Ouest) plantation in Côte d’Ivoire.

Touton’s cocoa beans are now traceable all along the supply chain, from the origin to the consumer allowing segregation of conventional and certified beans as well as better monitoring and understanding of the communities of farmers we work with.

Partnerships

European Cocoa Association