The Hindu Business Line : Pepper prices likely to rise further

Pepper prices, which have increased considerably this year, are likely to continue their upward swing in the coming months as the production in some of the origins is projected to be lower, according to Vietnam Business Forum.

The Forum has said this quoting the Vietnam Ministry of Trade.

According to the Forum the sole current supplier in the world is India. Indonesia has just sold some of its newly harvested pepper. Vietnam has sold 60 per cent of this year's output, leaving 25,000 tonne in the reserve, thus not being able to join the market, it said. Brazil, it said, will not harvest its pepper until October. There are also rumours in the air that that "Vietnam, Indonesia and India will have a bad pepper crop due to severe weather and high production cost," it said.

The Indian pepper output in 2007 is projected to be less than 50,000 tonnes, according to reliable sources.

Threat from China

Meanwhile, China is also reportedly emerging as a major pepper producing and consuming country. It is currently making great efforts to develop its pepper industry into a key economic sector. Besides, accelerating its pepper output, China is considering entry in to the International Pepper Community (IPC) to take full advantages of this organisation's action programmes. China's annual pepper consumption said to have touched 25,000 tonnes and its production is expected to reach 30,500 tonnes in 2006.

Quoting US experts, the Forum said the price of white pepper had increased due to the rising demands. European companies have begun making white pepper from black, which also resulted in pushing up the price of black pepper.

Vietnamese traders are offering white pepper between $750 and $775 for one tonne of white pepper than that of black pepper.

According to the Vietnam pepper association, there may be a decline in pepper supply. Vietnam's current pepper output is estimated at one lakh tonne accounting for about 50 per cent of the world total output.