There are few agricultural products whose production and exports are higher than that of the previous year for 10 consecutive years thanks to relatively stable prices like pepper.
While most items such as rice, rubber, coffee, cashew kernels, shrimp and fish have reduced prices; Only pepper continues to stand at high prices, with the prospect of reaching about 900 million USD in export value by the end of this year compared to 693 million USD in 2011.
Thousands of billionaire households
Although sometimes it is low, the price of pepper in Vietnam has never been lower than the cost. It can be said that this is the most attractive agricultural product at the moment. Out of 2 million hectares of industrial crops (coffee, rubber, cashew, tea…), the pepper area is only about 50,000 hectares, accounting for 2.5% of the area, but pepper accounts for over 8% of the export value. Currently, the export value of pepper is about 6,800 USD/ha, 6 times that of tea, 4 times of rubber, 3.8 times of cashews, and 2.6 times of coffee. There are thousands of farming households across the country with an income of over 1 billion VND/year such as 64 pepper farmers in the Union of High Productivity Clubs of Phuoc Loc (Xuan Loc District, Dong Nai), especially in the lake area. In Chu Se district, Gia Lai province, thousands of households are billionaires.
According to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), the average price of black pepper in the first months of 2012 was over $6,300/ton (an increase of more than $1,600/ton), and white pepper at $9,200/ton (an increase of more than $2,100/ton). It can be said that, in the first 5 months of 2012, the domestic pepper price reached an all-time high, the average black pepper price was over 120,000 VND/kg, up 33%; white pepper 190,000 VND/kg, an increase of 46% over the same period in 2011. By mid-May, the amount of pepper exported was nearly 52,500 tons, the export value was nearly 357.4 million USD, an increase of 11.4% in volume and increase 46.1% in value over the same period in 2011. The pepper export volume in 2012 is forecasted to be about 123,000 tons with a turnover of nearly 900 million USD.
Dominating the world market
With the amount of pepper traded as above, it is a condition that governs transaction prices on the world market. But to do this, the business itself or the VPA cannot do it without the coordination and support of pepper farmers across the country. Around 2006, when the export price of pepper was at its lowest, down to 900 USD/ton, while the price was up to 1,000 USD/ton, VPA advised people to store it and not sell it if it was below $1,200/ton. Thanks to this consensus, the world pepper price then had a spectacular reversal, increasing to USD 1,700 – USD 1,800/ton. In 2007, VPA again recommended not to sell below $2,500/ton, followed by many households and then sold at an average price of $3,200/ton. With these 2 successful recommendations and keeping prices, pepper growers are experienced, do not rush to sell out massively when the price drops, but keep it in stock. Pepper price then increased to $3,500/ton and then $3,800/ton.
Thanks to that way, for many years now, the world pepper price is no longer up and down cyclically like before and is always at a high level. Currently, Vietnam’s pepper has been exported directly to most markets, limiting consumption through intermediaries, so it has minimized risks and damages, and closely followed the world price level in Vietnam. every time. As a result, the income of producers and traders is profitable. Lessons of pepper have been learned and applied by associations and businesses in the coffee industry (Robusta) and cashew kernels (with a transaction volume of 50% – 60% of the market share). This has had initial success with coffee in this crop year.
Vietnamese pepper has been present in more than 80 countries and territories, in many major markets such as the US, Europe, Asia, the Middle East… From 2003 to now, Vietnam has been the number 1 pepper exporter in the world. world, accounting for 40%-50% of global pepper trade.
Cong Phien
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