Dong Nai’s pepper export volume increases sharply

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This achievement is due to Dong Nai pepper having more competitive advantages than other pepper production areas in the country. In the difficult period, when many provinces and cities decreased sharply in terms of pepper area, Dong Nai still retains both area and quality.

Exports see prosperity

At the moment, the price of pepper sold by farmers to traders ranges from VND 52-54,000/kg, an increase of nearly VND 20/kg compared with the bottom price at the beginning of the year when this agricultural product was in the harvest. This is a sign that pepper prices are gradually recovering after years of continuous decline due to a larger supply than demand.

Data from the Dong Nai Statistical Department has shown that export prices of pepper are also on the rise. Specifically, the average export price of pepper in June 2020 reached about US$ 2,240/ton, up 11.6% over the previous month. In the first 6 months, Dong Nai pepper export turnover reached about USD 23.9 million, up 27% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, also in the first 6 months, the whole country exported nearly USD 356 million, down 21% compared to the same period in 2019.

According to some export enterprises, Dong Nai's pepper exports still grew well while the country's export dropped due to the fact that Dong Nai attracted many large enterprises in pepper trading, processing and exporting. Many enterprises of exporting and processing pepper focus on Dong Nai because of a reason that during the difficult period of the pepper market, many provinces and cities have sharply reduced this crop area, Dong Nai still retains a large area and output.

Regarding the forecast of the pepper market in the near future, Mr. Nguyen Van Lam, representative of Nedspice Processing Vietnam Ltd. (invested from Netherlands, headquartered in Binh Duong province, invested in pepper raw material area in Dong Nai), said that during 3 years of falling prices, the area of this crop has not only decreased sharply in Vietnam but also in many countries around the world. Decreasing supply will cause pepper price to increase gradually in the near future. However, many countries still have large reserves of pepper, so the price of pepper in the export market has not changed much. It is forecasted that the price of this commodity will increase in the crop season until the pepper output declines sharply and the reserves are also exhausted.

Exploiting competitive advantages

 

A farmers in Xuan Bao commune, Xuan Loc district is harvesting pepper. Photo: Phan Anh

According to the report of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, although in recent years, the area of pepper in Dong Nai has decreased by thousands of hectares, the province still has more than 16,000 hectares of pepper. Farmers still invest and take care of this crop, so the total pepper output in the first 5 months of the whole province still reaches over 30.6 thousand tons, down only 1% compared to the same period last year.

Mr. Le Van Tien, Director of Hoang Dung One-member Co., Ltd. (Suoi Cao commune, Xuan Loc district) commented that Dong Nai was a locality investing and developing pepper trees earlier than many other provinces and cities across the country, so its farmers have rich experience in tending and developing this crop. During the difficult period of growing pepper, many farmers still make efforts to invest and maintain both the yield and quality of pepper, thereby, it is still the raw material area which is of prime concern to many exporters and processors.

With an area of over 4.7 thousand hectares, Cam My district has the largest area of pepper in Dong Nai. This locality also takes the lead in establishing a large specialized cultivation area for pepper. Mr. Tran Van Tanh, Deputy Director of Lam San Pepper Cooperative (Lam San commune, Cam My district), said that during the past time, the pepper price dropped and facing difficulties in output but local farmers still tried to keep this kind of crop. Farmers are also actively shifting towards clean pepper cultivation under the model of large fields with cooperatives, underwriting and preliminary processing enterprises to facilitate export to fastidious markets.

By Phan Anh