Vietnam earned 419 million USD from shipping abroad 116,000 tonnes of pepper last year and continued taking the lead in pepper exports worldwide.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, despite a year-on-year shrink of 13.3 percent in volume, pepper export turnover rose by 22.5 percent mostly due to the global increase of pepper price.

In 2010, the country’s average price of export stood at over 3,500 USD per tonne, up 38.3 percent over the previous year, the ministry said.

According to Tran Duc Tung, Chief Secretariat of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), in 2010, the country’s pepper export revenue set a record since 1996, which is attributed to the fact that the country has applied the supply-demand strategy in the global market to control the price.

Last year, a number of businesses invested in processing industry to diversify their products and improve pepper’s added values, thus, creating conditions to increase the price, Tung said.

Vietnam ’s pepper makes up 50 percent of the world’s pepper market share, Tung said, adding that, the pepper price is forecasted to remain high due to the increasing global demand.

The VPA said this year, the country is expected to produce from 100,000 tonnes to 110,000 tonnes of pepper and export about 100,000 tonnes./.