Pepper exports to reach annual target soon

Pepper production is encouraged to be developed in the form of value chains

According to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), the US, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Singapore are Vietnam’s three largest pepper importers. The three markets accounted for 37.89 percent of the total export value. Pepper exports to some other markets grew strongly, for example to Germany up 32.27 percent; the Republic of Korea 53.34 percent; Spain 27.79 percent; and the UK 24.23 percent. The average export value in the first eight months of this year was US$9.42 per tonne, 26.35 percent higher compared with the same period in 2014.

Vietnamese pepper accounts for about 30 percent of the global pepper output and about 50 percent of the global pepper export volume.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam has about 70,000ha of pepper, more than 50 percent of which is concentrated in the southeast, and 31 percent in the Central Highlands. Central provinces also have large pepper plantations. Each hectare of pepper plantations in Vietnam yields an average 2.16 tonnes of dried pepper, almost the highest in the world.

Increasing added value

Over the last 14 years, Vietnamese pepper was exported mostly in its raw form without any specific brand. This affected the competitiveness of the Vietnamese pepper sector and hindered its sustainable development in the future.

To improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese pepper, Vo Thanh Do, Deputy Director of the Department of Processing and Trade for Agro, Forestry and Fisheries Products and Salt Production under MARD, said from now until 2020 or even 2030, Vietnam will not need to build new pepper processing facilities but just focus on in-depth investment, and improving technology and equipment to increase productivity and improve product quality. Special attention needs to be paid to restructuring exports to increase the export of deeply processed, high quality products in order to enhance added value.

VPA President Do Ha Nam said the pepper sector had encouraged its member companies to concentrate on improving product quality and increase investment in deep processing and persifying products and markets to be more deeply involved in global supply chains.

According to VPA, localities need to encourage and provide greater support for production models that are developed in the form of value chains. To develop such production models, farmers need to establish clubs and cooperatives that will bridge farmers and input material suppliers and pepper processing businesses. This will ensure that Vietnamese pepper meets global requirements in terms of quality and can find export markets.

MARD intends to invest in upgrading existing pepper processing facilities, including 14 high-quality pepper processing plants, while at the same time building new white pepper processing facilities.

Lan Anh & Quynh Nga