At least until the early 1960s, trade in cloves was carried out in the traditional, familiar manner, by large numbers of shipping agents, merchants, dealers and brokers. Since the political changes in Zanzibar in 1964, however, the situation has changed somewhat. The role of merchants and dealers has diminished primarily because the supply prices were more rigidly fixed after the Zanzibar upheaval than had previously been the case, and the general feeling in the trade was that little or no further profit could be made.

Harvesting does not usually take place until the trees are at least 10 or 12 years old, unless economic necessity compels the cultivator to harvest them at 4 or 5 years, when the bark will be of inferior quality. They may even be left until they are 20 to 30 years of age, while forest trees may be 40 or 50 years old when they are discovered.

Compound quills, measuring 42 ins. long (just over 1 m), are sorted into grades according to the thickness of the hark. Three main qualities are exported: the ‘Tine’ or ‘Continental’ grades, the intermediate `Mexican’ grades, and the ‘Hamburg’ grades.