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Vietnam, world's second largest pepper exporter

Vietnamese pepper industry is joining rice, coffee and cashews in gaining an international prestige by making the country the world second largest exporter and third largest producer, sharing 20% of the whole world pepper market.

Vietnam has 26,500 hectares of pepper with half starting to give commercial seeds, mostly black pepper. Vietnam exported 36,000 tonnes of pepper in 2000, earning US $141 million. Domestic consumption of pepper accounted for 10% of production. Pepper was grown in Mekong river delta provinces in the south and provinces in the north. Farmers in the north-eastern part of the southern region grow most of the country’s pepper, with a coverage of over 15,000 hectares.

Vietnamese pepper, facing tough competition from world famous varieties of pepper from India (the world largest exporter of pepper), Malaysia, Indonesia (the world's third largest exporter) and Brazil, is much cheaper than in neighbouring countries. Pepper prices in Malaysia and Indonesia are put at US $1,500 per tonne while Vietnamese pepper ranges from US $800 to US $1,150 per tonne.

The price of Vietnamese pepper for export is often 10% to 20% lower than the price in other pepper exporting country partly due to low quality and partly to poor trade promotion. Exporters, producers and the government are improving these shortcomings and it is expected that Vietnamese pepper will have more advantages.