Demand for pepper up in US, Europe

With pepper export from Vietnam drying up, the demand for the spice in Europe and the US is expected to go up in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, the price of garbled pepper stood at Rs 315 per kg.

Jojan Malayil of Bafna Enterprises believes the price may reach Rs 350 in October-November. “The demand surge during winter will surely affect the price of Indian pepper in a positive way, because Vietnam, the major producer of the spice, has already finished exporting 95,000 tonnes through their customs frontiers and another 10,000 through their borders with China and Thailand,” says Jojan. “Vietnam has only 16,000 tonnes of the commodity left, and India has already started getting orders from Europe,” he adds.

Though Jojan didn’t get orders from the west during April-July, he suddenly began to get fresh orders in the last three or four days. “Still, farmers are waiting for the peak price, and in the last one week only 1,000 tonnes have come to the market from farmers,” says Jojan.

Dr Alex Abraham, vice-president of marketing at AVT, says the demand surge for pepper in winter is due to the run up to the Christmas season.

Vietnam – 120,000 tonnes

India – 45,000 tonnes

Brazil – 40,000 tonnes

Indonesia – 35,000 tonnes

Sri Lanka – 20,000 tonnes

Domestic consumption of pepper in India – 30 gm a year

Current market price, garbled – Rs 305/kg

Current market price, ungarbled – Rs 315/kg

Tags: Vietnam Pepper, Vietnam pepper exports