A farmer in Northwestern Vietnam. The country remains world's largest pepper exporter. Photo: Ngoc Hung

PANO – Vietnam has retained its position as the world’s largest pepper exporter in the first seven months of the current calendar year, pushing India further down in the export market, Indian newspaper said Tuesday.

In the first seven months of the year, Vietnam registered a robust 36.9 per cent growth in quantity and 44.3 per cent jump in value of pepper exports compared with the first seven months of 2005.

The country exported a total of 89,000 tonne pepper during the period. In comparison, during the same period, India exported 8,056 tonne,according to export industry estimates.

Remarkly, a chunk of Indian exports was re-export of value-added products made out of pepper imported from Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

In July alone, Vietnam exported 11,727 tonne (10,472 tonne black pepper), which was almost eight times the quantity India exported in the same month – 1,500 tonne (provisional).

According to Vietnam Pepper Association, the surge in the country’s export numbers was mainly driven by two factors – a larger volume of processed pepper and higher global prices.

While Vietnam is in a position to produce and export pepper at much lower prices compared with India, and also, its quality has become acceptable to global buyers, the once-famous Indian black pepper on Monday stands out-priced and with no buying support.

Ngoc Hung