The Coca-Cola Corporation is the world's largest customer of natural vanilla extract. When New Coke was introduced in 1985, the economy of Madagascar crashed, and only recovered after New Coke was not successful. The reason was that New Coke used vanillin, a less expensive synthetic substitute, and purchases of vanilla more than halved.
The market price of vanilla rose dramatically high in the late 1970s due to a typhoon. Prices stayed stable at this level through the early 1980s due to the pressure of recently introduced Indonesian vanilla. Prices then dropped 70% over the next few years to nearly $20 per kilo. Typhoon Huddah, which struck in the year 2000, changed the prices of vanilla. The typhoon, political instability, and poor weather in the third year drove vanilla prices to an astonishing $500 per kilo in 2004. Good crops coupled with decreased demand have pushed the market price down to the $40 per kilo range in the middle of 2006.