Pepper prices set to fall: experts
Pepper production has brought high profits for growers but the current rush at growing pepper for export will likely lead to oversupply in the near future, experts warn.
The price of pepper in the world market has continued to increase in the last five years.
The export price of pepper in 2011 was US$5,600 per tonne, US$7,800 per tonne in 2014, and the price in 2015 at US$8,000-US$9,000 per tonne, according to Tin Tuc (News) newspaper.
Due to continuous price increases since the beginning of 2015, most of the pepper growers have not sold their products to traders after harvesting because they want to hoard them, hoping the price will continue to increase, the report said.
The price of pepper is likely to go down this year if this situation continues and the growers will face difficulties in selling their harvested product, according to Do Ha Nam, head of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA).
Moreover, many factors in the process of pepper production have not been correct although the farmers have invested much capital on them.
Nguyen Van Hoa, deputy director of Cultivation Department, said that the research on seedlings had not corresponded with the sector's development.
The development of pepper production was not sustainable because the choosing, testing and managing of the quality of the seedlings had not been correctly cared for by the research centre, he said.
Most of this work was done by pepper growers, Hoa said.
According to Hoang Phuoc Binh, head of Chu Se Pepper Association in Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Gia Lai, said that to gain sustainable development, the farmers and enterprises should consider the consumer as a priority than their profits.
In addition, the local authorities should review and assess the ecological conditions adapted to pepper, and remove the growing areas which bring lower profits, experts said.
The sector also should form a concentrated pepper production area and invest more capital for infrastructure and purchase and processing systems to gradually set up a safe material area, said Hoa.
Moreover, the pepper growers should join co-operatives to share experience and apply safe farming techniques and disease prevention measures to improve the quality of the product, he added.
According to VAP's data, the country's pepper cultivation area reached 86,000ha in 2015, with output of 130,000 tonnes of pepper, 26,000 fewer tonnes compared with the last crop.