HCMC – As local pepper supply is nearly running out of stock, many exporters have had to temporarily import pepper from Indonesia and Brazil for re-exports to fulfill contracts they had signed earlier.

Pepper exports totaled 103,000 tons in the first eight months of the year, meaning the nation has almost no pepper left for exports prompting a host of exporting companies to resort to imports, said Tran Duc Tung, office manager of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA).

Tung said the temporary imports for re-exports are often opted for by big enterprises in the pepper industry but he declined to name those entities.

At present, the price of pepper imported from Indonesia and Brazil is almost equal to that of Vietnamese pepper. The country’s pepper export prices averaged out at some US$6,566 a ton in the January-July period, with importers earning no profits now, according to VPA.

Pepper products were priced VND120,000-131,000 a kilo in the local market on Wednesday, rising VND1,000 a kilo versus one day earlier.

VPA has at least twice given estimates on pepper yield over the past time. The association produced pepper yield prediction for the first time after making surveys in pepper-growing provinces like Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai and the Central Highlands, expecting the yield to slump to some 90,000 tons due to unfavorable climate conditions. The association then changed its prediction, saying the yield would stay at 105,000 tons like in previous years.

Source: By Ngoc Hung - The Saigon Times Daily