Pepper prices witness a turbulent week

Stormy week for Vietnamese pepper

The pepper market last week (August 5-11) was shaken strongly when on August 6, pepper prices plummeted to around 140,000 - 141,000 VND/kg. Specifically, in Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc provinces, pepper prices on August 6 were purchased at 141,000 VND/kg, down 6,000 VND/kg compared to the previous day. Similarly, in Gia Lai province, pepper prices also stood at 140,000 VND/kg, down 6,000 VND/kg. This is the deepest decrease in nearly 2 months.

Pepper prices witnessed a turbulent week. Illustrative photo

The decline continued on August 7, with a decrease of 1,000 - 4,000 VND/kg in some localities compared to the previous day and recorded transactions around 137,000 - 139,000 VND/kg; the highest purchase price in Dak Nong, Dak Lak, and Gia Lai provinces was 139,000 VND/kg.

On August 8, in the Southeast region, pepper prices continued to decrease by VND 2,000/kg in some localities compared to the previous day and were traded around VND 135,000 - 137,000/kg, of which the highest purchase price in Dak Nong, Dak Lak, and Gia Lai provinces was VND 137,000/kg.

The pepper market then recovered slightly and fluctuated in the price range of 141,000 - 142,000 VND/kg over the weekend. Pepper prices witnessed a turbulent week.

The situation of the pepper crop and output in different countries has strongly affected the domestic pepper price. According to the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association, Brazil is continuing to harvest pepper in the Espírito Santo region and in November in the Para region, it is estimated that the whole country will harvest about 60 thousand tons more. In addition, information that the Indonesian market is entering the harvest season expected in August (later than every year from July) is probably a factor that has cooled down the domestic pepper price.

However, the scarce supply continues to put pressure on prices. Specifically, by the end of June 2024, Vietnam had exported nearly 143 thousand tons of pepper of all kinds. Compared to the 2024 harvest output of about 170 thousand tons, the remaining output is estimated at nearly 28 thousand tons. The inventory from the 2023 crop carried over plus the import volume in 2024 is about 40 - 45 thousand tons (including unofficial imports).

Pepper prices are forecast to continue to fluctuate erratically.

On the first day of the new week (August 12), pepper prices continued to increase slightly from 3,000 - 4,500 VND/kg in some localities in key growing areas and fluctuated around the price range of 145,000 - 146,500 VND/kg.

In Vietnam, the coffee harvest season begins in early January and after the Lunar New Year, farmers enter the peak harvest season. Thus, there are still 7-8 months left until the new harvest (expected after the Lunar New Year, from February 2025), while the amount of goods left in the hands of people, agents and businesses is not much. In the general "picture" of the world pepper industry, it shows that the market is facing the "problem" of lack of supply. This will push domestic pepper prices to continue to increase.

Talking to reporters of the Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Hoang Phuoc Binh - Permanent Vice President of the Chu Se Pepper Association, this year's pepper price has increased again, but people are not under pressure to sell early like in previous years because the prices of coffee and durian have both increased, many households have stable income. Pepper prices last week, although having fluctuated abnormally, are still on the path of recovery and increase, which is an optimistic signal that brings much hope to growers. It is forecasted that pepper prices will continue to fluctuate abnormally in the coming time.

According to experts, the domestic pepper industry is on the rise, with opportunities to increase export turnover. Enterprises need to focus on improving quality and paying attention to the preliminary processing and processing stages to meet market demand. This is the driving force for people to cooperate with enterprises to produce pepper intensively in an organic direction, meeting export standards to improve quality and economic value.

Regarding this, Ms. Hoang Thi Lien - President of the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association - shared that Vietnam is currently the world's largest pepper export market, accounting for about 55% of the total pepper export volume worldwide. With the current processing capacity of 140,000 tons/year, Vietnam continues to have the potential to increase the proportion of processed exports (currently the proportion of processed goods is only 30%). Increasing deep processing will help diversify products, increase quality and value, and participate more deeply in the value chain... are solutions to revive the pepper industry.

Preliminary statistics recently announced by the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association (VPSA) show that in July 2024, Vietnam exported 21,771 tons of pepper of all kinds with a total export turnover of 129.9 million USD.

In total, in the first 7 months of the year, pepper exports reached 164,357 tons, of which black pepper reached 145,330 tons and white pepper reached 19,027 tons. Total export turnover reached 764.2 million USD, of which black pepper reached 652.0 million USD and white pepper reached 112.2 million USD.

Compared to the same period in 2023, the export volume decreased by 2.2%, but the export turnover increased by 40.8%. The average export price of black pepper in 7 months reached 4,568 USD/ton, white pepper reached 6,195 USD/ton, up 32.7% for black pepper and 25.0% USD for white pepper compared to the same period last year.

The United States is Vietnam's largest pepper export market, with an increase of 48.4% in 7 months and a 26.4% market share, reaching 43,349 tons. Next are the markets: Germany with 10,941 tons, up 97.3%; UAE with 10,897 tons, up 39.2%; India with 8,744 tons, up 39.7%; China ranked 4th with 8,059 tons, down 84.6% compared to the same period last year.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/gia-ho-tieu-chung-kien-mot-tuan-song-gio-338401.html