Under a newly appoved plan to 2020 with a vision toward 2030, Vietnam’s pepper plantation area will be maintained at 50,000 hectares with an output of 140,000 tonnes in total, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Online Newspaper reported.

Under the plan, high-quality pepper products will reach 90 percent. For product structure, black pepper will make up 70 percent while the rest will go for white pepper. The plan aims to earn 1.2-1.3 billion USD from pepper exports by 2020.

Major pepper cultivation will include 10,000 hectares in Binh Phuoc, 7,000 hectares in Dong Nai, 7,000 hectares in Ba Ria – Vung Tau, 7,000 hectares in Dak Nong, 5,500 hectares in Gia Lai and 5,000 hectares in Dak Lak. The remaining of 8,500 hectares will be covered in other localities across the country.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat urged department of agriculture and rural development in all provinces to map out their pepper development plan in conformity with his newly appoved plan.
Phat also said local authorities need to help their farmers with advanced farm technologies to make their peppers meeting VietGap and Global GAP standards.
Pepper has maintained a high export value for eight consecutive years, especially over the past three years. Accounting for 30 percent in volume and over 50 percent of the global market share, Vietnamese pepper has gained prestigious status around the world, as a matter of fact, many other countries have started looking to Vietnam’s pepper selling price as a reference point.

Vietnam shipped abroad 92,000 tonnes of pepper in the first five months of this year, earning 645 million USD in export revenue. The sector has obtained a fantastic upward growth of 33.6 percent in volume and 42.3 percent in value.

According to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), if these figures remain steady for the rest of the year, Vietnam’s pepper exports in 2014 are likely to reach about 125,000–130,000 tonnes and bring in record revenue of 1 billion USD.-VNA