Vietnam - World's Largest Pepper Exporter

Vietnam - World's Largest Pepper Exporter

Vietnam has become the world's largest pepper exporter, accounting for 50 per cent of the commercial world pepper output, ranking ahead of India and Indonesia, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Planning Department.

Other pepper exporting countries in the world are reducing pepper output but Vietnam’s output was on the rise, the department said, adding that the country exported around 100,000 tons at US$130 million in 2004, up 34.3 per cent on-year in volume and 23.6 per cent on-year in value.

The department also said that in 1998-2003 period, Vietnam’s pepper output was up by 64 per cent while export was up by 56.5 per cent annually on average. The price of Vietnamese black pepper also slightly rose to US$1,200 per ton now from US$1,160 in late 2004. In 2003 alone, the country yielded 85,000 tons of pepper, exporting 74,000 tons, accounting for 26.3 per cent of the world’s total.

The success in pepper export growth was attributed to the country's harvesting time of four to five months earlier than other countries.

Vietnam exported around 21,000 tons of pepper worth US$29 million in the first three months of this year.

In related news, the export price of pepper has risen by VND2 million (US$127) to VND19 million (US$1,200) per ton due to a domestic shortage in Vietnam.  The price hike is attributed to the current drought that has ravaged the country for the past few months. The nation’s pepper output is expected to reach 90,000 tons this year, which is 10,000 tons lower than its target.

Vnexpress, VNA