(VOV) -Vietnam raked in US$618 million from exporting 94,000 tonnes of pepper in the first seven months of this year, retaining control of the global pepper market.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in July alone the country shipped approximately 12,000 tonnes of pepper abroad, earning US$81 million.

However, MARD said, the average price of export pepper in the past seven months saw a year-on-year decrease of over 4% to US$6,563/tonne.

The US and Germany were Vietnam’s largest pepper importers, making up about 33.2% of total market share.

At present, Vietnam exports pepper to more than 80 countries and territories around the world.

The Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) predicted that local farmers will have harvested 90,000-95,000 tonnes of pepper on 60,000 hectares by the end of this year.

The association has set a target of exporting 105,000-110,000 tonnes in 2013.

Source:  http://vietnambreakingnews.com