The world pepper market in 2010 and next years would develop benefiting both Vietnamese farmers and processors, said the leader of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA).

Speaking at the VPA annual conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on May 7, VPA President Do Ha Nam told farmers to focus on develop pepper growing following sustainable development and food safety right from the 2010-2011 crop to make good preparations for exports.

VPA recommended farmers and enterprises to coordinate to adjust the sale volume suitable with the market demands and prices. Enterprises also need to invest in raising products’ quality in order to get higher export value.

In order to help the pepper sector to have stable production and high export value, VPA proposed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to put pepper growing into the Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) from 2010, and assist the building of pepper trademarks and promulgate pepper standards for enterprises to apply in production and exports.

VPA also proposed the Finance Minister to exempt the value added tax (VAT) for exported pepper to help enterprises to ease shortage in capital.

VPA forecast that the country’s pepper output in 2010 is estimated at 90,000 tonnes, 20 percent less than the previous year due to bad weather and diseases.

However, the country is likely to export 85,000-90,000 tonnes this year as it has 2,000 ha of three-year-old pepper farms, which are having first harvest and 15,000 tonnes of pepper in storage.

The price of pepper in the world market increased from late March in the forecast of the pepper output in the world would shrink markedly in 2010 and the storage volume decreased, while the demands do not decline.

According to the General Department of Customs, the average price of black pepper in the first quarter of this year in the world market was 2,089 USD per tonne, an increase of 567 USD over the same period last year. The price of white pepper was 3,949 USD per tonne, an increase of 382 USD.

Meanwhile, the price of pepper in the domestic market also increased sharply. One kilo of black pepper was sold at 50,000 VND in April as comparison with 31,500 VND in April last year. One kilo of white pepper was valued at 70,000 VND as against 51,000 VND the same period last year./.