Cautious outlook for pepper industry

The pepper industry should see sustainable development for this year after achieving record high export value for 2009 in the industry’s history.

Do Ha Nam, chairman of the Viet Nam Pepper Association, said Viet Nam exported a record volume of 135,000 tonnes of pepper in total for last year, earning US$360 million. The figure represented a 51 per cent increase in volume and a 18 per cent growth in value compared with the previous year

The increase was due to the rise of pepper output last year, improvement of export product quality and surge in export prices, he said

“Vietnamese pepper exports have expanded globally, and the export volume to large foreign markets rose by between 15-20 per cent compared with the previous year,” he said.

However, the association expected that total annual pepper output this year would not increase and even possibly decline by 5-10 per cent due to natural disasters, droughts and pests.

Export prices this year are unlikely to match the record prices of last year, where a tonne of pepper jumped from $1,800-2,000 to $2,600-2,800.

To increase the effectiveness of pepper export activities this year, the association worked with overseas pepper associations to propose information exchanges on output and export markets, Nam said.

The associations should reduce the volume of pepper selling at low prices to avoid losses for pepper producers and exporters, he added.

Exporters should also meet regularly to present a unified front on pepper stock and sales to protect exporters when they were forced to reduce prices by traders.

Vietnamese pepper producers and exporters should improve the effectiveness of processing factories and quality of export pepper, expand export markets, increase consumption of high-quality pepper, boost trade promotion programmes and increase their market share in export markets which include China, Africa and West Asian countries, Nam said.

The association joined hands with international organisations and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to improve the quality and food safety of pepper products of small producers and traders in Viet Nam this year, he added.

Viet Nam had success in building and developing the Chu Se trademark for pepper produced in Chu Se District, Gia Lai Province. For this year, with experiences from the building of the Chu Se brand, the association will focus on developing trademarks in other regions, including Binh Phuoc, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Tags: Vietnam agriculture, Vietnam pepper industry