Never before has the price of pepper in these days fell sharply like this time. In just 1 month, from the end of August until now, the pepper price has continuously decreased to 80,000 VND/kg, far from the peak of 170,000 – 200,000 VND/kg as 1 year ago.
In another direction, the average export price of pepper in the first 9 months of this year also decreased by 33% to only USD 5,377/ton. The Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) has explained the current pepper price.
Being ranked as a powerhouse in pepper export, pepper trees also bring “terrible” profits to farmers. But things were different when this year pepper prices fell dramatically. Households are rushing to grow pepper, but the quality is not guaranteed… Many import markets have also “reacted” because Vietnamese pepper has residues of pesticides and pesticides…
The warnings…
In the middle of 2015, when pepper was at the “golden” time because it brought “terrible” profits and entered the top of the billion-dollar agricultural export products, the European Spices Association sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development warning warning. chemical residues in Vietnamese pepper. The warning letter made both pepper growers and business “startled” look back. In 2016, a number of European countries continued to warn when the concentration of the fungicide Carbendazim exceeded the permissible limit in a shipment of black pepper of a Vietnamese enterprise.
According to the results of the EU’s warning summary, from the beginning of 2015 to the middle of 2016, there were 17 export shipments of Vietnamese pepper that were found to contain residues of 9 pesticides exceeding the prescribed levels and warned about 3 other high frequency substances. In the Japanese market, the authorities of this country have also brought the level of residues of active ingredient Carbendazim in pepper to zero, if not meeting this standard, Japan will refuse to import Vietnamese pepper.
According to the assessment of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), the high price of pepper has brought about super profits for growers in recent years, from 300 million to over 1 billion VND/ha. Therefore, farmers have massively expanded the area.
The statistical area in 2017 has doubled compared to 2013, there are 28 provinces and cities growing pepper. The North extends to Quang Binh, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa… The South extends to the mainland of Kien Giang, Ca Mau… The provinces with a sudden increase in pepper area and leading the country are Dak Nong, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Binh Phuoc… It is the massive increase in production, without control, without planning, in pursuit of profit… that has pushed Vietnamese pepper as well as many other agricultural products into a difficult position. In order to increase productivity, take advantage of the high selling price while facing the rapidly spreading disease, many pepper growers have abused pesticides. Since then, leading to high residues of banned active ingredients on products, the import market refuses to import goods…
“In the context of high pepper prices, sustainable production will reduce the productivity of pepper gardens by about 50-70%, so it is difficult to convince farmers” – Mr. Do Ha Nam, former Chairman VPA, General Director of Intimex once shared.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam also pondered that this year, Vietnam’s pepper was in a difficult position because importing countries had set up barriers, which was detrimental to our country’s pepper. Besides the requirements on pesticide residues, standards on sustainable development, on the market… also require more efforts from pepper growers.
Price of “bad” pepper
Trade and export of pepper in recent years has also been very busy, the number of enterprises participating in exporting has increased sharply and expanded everywhere, helping farmers to consume all the products produced, bringing Vietnam to the world. becoming the world’s leading exporter with a proportion of over 58% of the world’s exports.
However, because the area increased too quickly, supply exceeded demand, so pepper prices began to decline sharply from the second half of 2016 until now. There was a time when pepper was purchased by traders for nearly 200,000 VND/kg, but by the beginning of this year it was only 80,000 VND/kg.
For export pepper, Vietnam’s pepper price has “fallen without stopping”, leading to the price of domestic pepper also dropping by 50% in the past few months. Compared to Indonesia, Malaysia, China… black pepper, white pepper in Vietnam is having the lowest price in the export market.
Mr. Do Ha Nam added that, although this downward price trend is not unexpected by experts, it is impossible to predict that the price has fallen too deeply when forecasting global demand for pepper is still high. increase 4-5% this year.
According to Mr. Nam, compared with other pepper exporters such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc., Vietnam’s pepper price has fallen deeply and dropped to the “bottom” position in the comparison table. In India alone, both the domestic price and the export price of Malabar black pepper in this country are always twice as high as that of Vietnam (see graphic). The price of black pepper Lampung of Indonesia, Sarawak of Malaysia is also higher than that of Vietnam, at $6,688/ton and $7,650/ton respectively in April and down to $5,410/ton for Lampung, $7,650/ton for ASTA pepper in May, while that of Vietnam is $4,518/ton.
Domestic pepper prices also fell to the lowest level in the past 5 years. From the beginning of April until now, the price of pepper has decreased by 50%, from 150,000 VND/kg to approximately 80,000 VND/kg.
According to Ms. Nguyen Mai Oanh – General Secretary of VPA, the world pepper price dropped sharply mainly due to… Vietnam’s pepper cultivation. Specifically, since 2013, Vietnam, which is the world’s largest pepper producer and exporter, has rapidly increased the new planting area and produced a very high output, 50,000 tons higher than in previous years.
According to the export price summary table of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), the export price of Vietnamese black pepper has reached the “bottom” position compared to other competitors in the world. Not only that, in white pepper products (head pepper), the general price also decreased, but Vietnamese products still have lower prices compared to other countries. In particular, Chinese white pepper costs twice as much as Vietnamese white pepper.
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