✻Forecast FarmClimate · Cultivation · Consequence
Tropical tree · Bark spice

Cinnamon

Cinnamomum verum · Lauraceae

Cinnamon is a tropical tree that grows best in the 24–30°C range with 2000–2600 mm of rain, cropping over a 300–365-day season. Today it is grown mostly in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Optimal temp
24–30 °C
Annual rain
2000–2600 mm
Max altitude
2,000 m
Cold limit
18°C
Growing cycle
300–365 d
Climate-fit land
10 % world

How it grows

Cinnamon
Photo: Augustus Binu : flickr · CC BY-SA 3.0
Cinnamon
Photo: L. Shyamal · CC BY-SA 3.0
🌳 On a tree

Cinnamon grows on a tree — the fruit ripens above the ground, up in the canopy.

What it’s worth to grow

$9.88 / kg at the farm gate
$$$$$
Premium
pricier than 99% of all crops · #1 of 9 herbs & spices
Ranked against similar crops — Herbs & spices
Cinnamon ◀$9.88/kg
Vanilla$4.71/kg
Black Pepper$3.61/kg
Nutmeg$3.54/kg
Cardamom$3.54/kg
Clove$2.92/kg
Spearmint$1.86/kg
Ginger$1.84/kg
Chili Pepper$1.01/kg

Farm-gate value = the price farmers are paid per kilogram (FAOSTAT producer prices, median of 27 positive country-year observations spanning 2018–2024). It tracks how costly and labour-intensive a crop is to grow — almonds and vanilla command a premium; potatoes and cereals are cheap staples.

Where Earth's climate suits cinnamon

Global climatic suitability map for Cinnamon
marginal suitable good excellent unsuitable land
10% of world land

Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).

Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it

Actual production · FAOSTAT 2024
World harvest 0.3M t/yr
China94k t
Vietnam71k t
Indonesia55k t
Sri Lanka21k t
Madagascar3k t
Timor-Leste125 t
Sao Tome and Principe58 t
Grenada37 t
Latest reported year. Source: FAO FAOSTAT.
Climatic fit · computed
Where the climate suits it best
Brazil
Dem. Rep. Congo
Indonesia
Peru
Bolivia
Venezuela
India
Congo
Ranked by suitable land area (EcoCrop×AgroClim). Climate permits far more than is farmed — economics and history decide the rest.

The climate where it grows

China🌧 166% rain · wet
23°C · 2009 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Vietnam🌧 103% rain · near normal
24°C · 2042 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Indonesia🌧 118% rain · wet
26°C · 2358 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND
Sri Lanka🌧 125% rain · wet
26°C · 2112 mm/yr
JFMAMJJASOND

— mean monthly temperature   ▍ monthly rainfall — averaged over the actual growing areas (the suitable cells) inside each country, so it reflects where the crop is really grown, not the national average. AgroClim 1991–2025 normals. The 🌧 badge is the last 3 months’ rainfall as a percentage of the 1991–2020 CHIRPS normal (through 2025-12) — the current drought/deluge signal.

Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop

Temperatureoptimum 24–30°C · tolerates 18–36°C
-5°C45°C
Annual rainfalloptimum 2000–2600 mm · tolerates 1200–3000 mm
0 mm4500 mm
Soil pHoptimum 5.0–7.0 · tolerates 5.0–7.0
3.09.0

Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±—° · soil pH 5–7.

Growing calendar & hazards

Season

An annual cycle of roughly 300–365 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.

What threatens the crop
  • Cold & frost. A frost-sensitive crop: temperatures near or below freezing damage or kill it, so it is confined to frost-free seasons and warm climates.
  • Wet & disease. A thirsty crop that needs abundant rain; in the wettest climates, humidity brings fungal disease pressure.

Related crops