Vietnam shipped abroad 120,000 tonnes of pepper for 300 million USD in the past ten months, gaining rises of 52 percent and 8 percent in volume and value, respectively, over the same period last year.

The figures were released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which also unveiled that the US emerged as the country’s largest consumption market in the reviewed time.

The ministry also mentioned Germany , Saudi Arabia and Egypt as the other largest consumers of Vietnamese pepper, the spice that names the country the world’s biggest pepper producer as it makes up for 30 percent of the world’s pepper yield.

It attributed pepper export surge to the growing demand for the spice in several foreign markets while other main pepper-growing countries, including Indonesia , Brazil , and India , reduced their supplies due to the impact of climate change.

In the meantime, Vietnam is accelerating pepper exports, expecting to sell abroad an additional 20,000 tonnes in the next two months.

Economic experts forecast that pepper exports would register a positive growth for the whole year on the back of the 10-month surges in both volume and value and optimistic signs in the world market.

Pepper is growing on about 50,000 ha in Vietnam , with 41,000 ha giving yields.

This year, the country’s pepper output would reach 95,000 tonnes, a 10 percent increase over last year’s crop./.