Vietnam climbs to top of pepper exporting

Bloomberg News Service

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Vietnam is set to become the world's largest exporter of pepper this year, overtaking Indonesia, after its shipments rose 44 percent in the first six months.

Vietnam's first-half exports rose to 44,000 metric tons, from 30,470 tons in the same period in 2000, International Pepper Community said in a report. That's almost half the total world exports of 100,378 tons in the period and more than double the 21,029 tons Indonesia sold, the report said.

Vietnam recently overtook Colombia as the world's second largest producer of coffee, behind Brazil. Vietnam tripled coffee production in the last five years.

Vietnam's overseas pepper sales rose 5 percent in June to 3,000 metric tons from the same month a year ago, compared with an 18 percent decline in global exports, the IPC said. Indonesia's shipments fell 15 percent in the month to 4,433 tons, while Malaysia's dropped 41 percent to 2,385 tons, the report said.

Vietnam's sales in the first half exceeded the 36,251 tons it exported in the whole of 2000, according to estimates on the IPC's Web site.

Last year, Indonesia's exports rose 46 percent to 52,159, making it the biggest shipper of the spice, ahead of India, which saw shipments slump 56 percent to 20,802 tons. The IPC said figures are estimates and subject to revision.

The 29-year-old organization expects world exports to reach 183,000 metric tons this year, 10 percent higher than last year, it said in March.