Since the early 1970s, when Malaysian agricultural commodities re-entered the global market, exports of white pepper, black pepper and green pepper to countries such as Japan, Spain and the United States have increased. continuously increase.
Commonly known as “Sarawak pepper”, the state produces about 24,500 tonnes, or 95% of last year’s total output, while only 200 tonnes comes from Johor state and 18 tonnes from Sabah state.
Sarawak state has 13,400 hectares planted pepper on a total of 13,483 hectares of pepper in Malaysia.
An interesting thing is that Sarawak pepper is famous for world-class quality that Vietnam, the world’s leading pepper producer, even imports to grind out powdered pepper.
Sarawak pepper is graded and brand certified and is recognized by consumers and traders worldwide for its consistently high quality and reliability in terms of delivery.
It can be said that Malaysians are not satisfied when exporting pepper in the form of raw granules, but instead it is necessary to actively expand processed pepper products to adapt to international market demand.
The next challenge for the industry, especially the Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB), is to expand the development and promote the production of white powdered pepper, purifying the natural black pepper, adding the bold black pepper of Semonggok Perak varieties and dehydrated green pepper to get better price in the world market.
Early last year, the price of white pepper peaked at around RM14,690/ton, and in 2009 fell to RM11,370/ton.
The price of black pepper is currently RM 8,240/ton but in January 2008 it has also dropped to around RM 6,730/ton.
At the same time, there is also the increasing acceptance of Western countries about the properties of oriental spices and herbs, the prospect that Malaysian pepper can continue to expand as a new industrial crop to grow. manufactures pharmaceutical and perfumery related products.
On another note, pepper growers in Malaysia are also challenged by high production costs of around RM5.30/kg compared to the lower costs of their peers in leading producing countries such as Vietnam and India. India, Indonesia and Brazil.
As part of the strategic plan to revive the industry, the Ministry of Agro-Commodity Industries also introduced pepper planting in the Sarawak cluster. With this approach, the output pepper Malaysia’s annual output could increase from about 20,000 tons to 30,000 tons by 2010. Many incentives are also given to encourage farmers.
Last year, Malaysia exported 13,390 tons of pepper worth RM172.1 million, ranking fifth in the world with about 24,000 tons, behind Vietnam (82,400 tons), India (50,000 tons). , Indonesia (48,000 tons) and Brazil (35,000 tons). There are about 67,000 workers engaged in pepper farming in Malaysia.
Currently, the top buyers of pepper Malaysia includes the countries of Japan, China, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.
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