Hanoi, Aug 14 (IANS) Vietnam remains among the world’s top pepper exporting nations, with 77,000 tonnes of spice exported in the first seven months of this year.
The country earned $532 million from exports during the period, decreased by 69 percent in volume, but an increase of 17.1 percent in value year-on-year, Xinhua quoted the Vietnam Statistics Office as saying.
The country is forecast to export about 115,000 tonnes of pepper in 2012, earning about $780 million, if the price remains at July high of over $7,000 per tonne.
Over the past decade, the average pepper output increased from 3-5 tonnes per hectare to 9-10 tonnes/ha.
Vietnam exports pepper products to 80 countries and regions, including the EU, the US, UAE, India and Pakistan, accounting for about 50 percent of the global export.
