Vietnam pepper exports up 40% in Jan-Apr

Vietnam saw a more than 40 per cent jump in pepper exports during the January-April period this year.

The Southeast Asian country's export volumes were up 40.2 per cent at 75, 514 tonne, in value terms it saw a net gain of US$164.3 million

Exports include 68,500 tonnes of black pepper and 7,014 tonnes of white pepper. Its dollar value reached US$ 519.2 million, including US$ 451.8 million for black pepper and 67.4 million for white pepper , according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The average export price of black pepper during the period was $ 6,596 per tonne, white pepper $ 9,606 per tonne.

The biggest advantage of Vietnam is their huge production and the highest productivity across the world. To these key factors, the country could offer the lowest prices across the world.

Higher prices of Indian pepper during the period caused a serious drop in the Indian exports. Local manufacturers of value-added products depend mainly on imported pepper. North Indian markets also sell imported pepper as it is cheaper compared with the local grades.

During the year 2013-14, Vietnam was reported to have a production of around 150,000 tonne while India's production was confined to less than 35,000 tonne. However, some growers project a much lower than this; at around 25,000 tonne.

The US market continues to be the largest importer of pepper from Vietnam with 14,580 tonne , up by 3,700 tonne over the same period last year.

However, Singapore emerged as the strongest in the recent times. The volume of imports of Singapore in first four months touched 10,141 tonne, up 6,524 tonne from the last year.

While most markets like India , Saudi Arabia , Pakistan, Netherlands, Spain have seen an increase in exports, except Germany.

German market continued to decrease imports from Vietnam . In the first 4 months Germany imported only 2223 tonne, down by 3,361 tonne over the same period last year, according to the data of Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture.

Vietnam's pepper exports could fetch a record US$1 billion this year, with around 140,000 tonnes of the spice to be exported, according to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA).

The International Pepper Community (IPC) has forecast global supply to fall by 45,000 tonne this year to 320,000 tonne and demand to remain high, keeping prices high.