The export prices of a number of cash crops, including rubber, coffee, cacao and pepper, are on the rise due to increasing global demand.

Rubber prices rose to 3,300 USD per tonne this month, compared to just 1,200 USD per tonne at the same time last year, according to Vietnam Rubber Association general secretary Tran Thi Thuy Hoa.

Dwinding global supplies and rising demand were expected to continue driving up prices this year, Hoa said, noting that the association's member companies had boosted production to profit from the rising demand.

As a consequence, rubber exports reached 76,300 tonnes in the first two months of the year, worth a total of 192.7 million USD. Export volume was comparable to the same period last year, but value had increased by a dramatic 87 percent due to the higher prices.

The rubber industry has projected that exports will total 1.5 billion USD by the end of the year, on a volume of 770,000 tonnes, Hoa said.

Coffee bean prices have also risen, reaching 1,290 USD per tonne at Sai Gon Port , according to the Vietnam Coffee and Cacao Association. Meanwhile, domestic prices have also climbed by 2,000 VND/kg in the past week alone, to 24,600 VND/kg (1.30 USD).

Domestic cacao prices have also surged by 20,000 VND/kg compared to the same time last year, reaching 54,400 VND/kg.

The export value of pepper in the first quarter of this year rose by 1.5 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 66 million USD, even though export volume declined by 15.5 percent during the period, to just 23,000 tonnes, according to the Vietnam Pepper Association.

The discrepancy was due to export prices that have jumped by as much as 200 USD per tonne in the past month, hitting 2,900 USD per tonne for black pepper and 4,200 USD per tonne for white pepper, the association said./.