Two-month peppercorn export drops in volume, rises in value
Vietnam exported 35,000 tonnes of peppercorn worth 143 million USD in the first two months of 2024, down 12.3% in volume but up 12.9% in value, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
Farmers harvest peppercorn in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai in 2023. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam exported 35,000 tonnes of peppercorn worth 143 millionUSD in the first two months of 2024, down 12.3% in volume but up 12.9% invalue, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The USwas the biggest importer of Vietnamese peppercorn, accounting for 29% of thetotal shipments. It was followed by India 8% and Germany 6%.
Export prices averaged 4,041 USD per tonne duringJanuary - February, rising 28.7% from the same period last year. As a result,domestic prices have also increased continuously, especially after the Lunar NewYear festival, the MARD noted.
Peppercornprices on March 5 rose 500 VND per kg from the previous day to 93,000 - 96,000VND (3.76 - 3.89 USD) per kg according to localities, statistics show.
Explaining the sharp increase,Hoang Phuoc Binh, Standing Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the PeppercornAssociation of Chu Se district (Gia Lai province), said the production is nothigh because the harvest season has just started. Meanwhile, domestic speculatorsare racing to buy in bulk as they forecast peppercorn will soon enter the pricehiking cycle that usually lasts for 10 years.
Growers are also no longer under a big selling pressuresince most of them also cultivate other crops like durian and coffee or haveother sources of income, he went on.
Binh added that rising demand for the ordersdelivered right in the first quarter in foreign markets such as the US, the EU,Asia, and Africa has also fuelled peppercorn prices.
The Vietnam Pepper andSpice Association (VPSA) predicted that the country’s peppercorn output thisyear will drop by 10 - 15% to 160,000 - 170,000 tonnes.
Among largeproducers, the harvest season already passed in Brazil and has just started inVietnam while the main harvest season of Indonesia and Malaysia falls in July. Thesupply from Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia, and Cambodia is unable to make up forthe decline in Vietnam’s export volume, thus boosting prices since thebeginning of the season, according to the VPSA.
Echoing theview, the Foreign Trade Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade heldthat global prices will keep going up in the first quarter due to the outputdecrease in the main producing countries, noting that adverse weather conditionsdue to El Nino are affecting peppercorn production./.
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Farmers harvest peppercorn in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai in 2023. (Photo: VNA) 
