The exports of black pepper fell to 1,700 tonnes in July against 1,950 tonnes in July 2008, registering a decline of 12.8 per cent.
The cumulative exports for April-July edged up to 6,700 tonnes against 9,500 tonnes in the same period of 2008-09. In July 2007, exports were at a monthly high of 3,460 tonnes. Interestingly, total imports during July have shot up to 1,550 tonnes, according to industry sources.
According to sources, India might be a net importer of black pepper in 2009-10, for the first time in the history of pepper trading in India. The current pricing pattern favours a much higher import to India as Indonesia and Vietnam offer lower tariffs than India.
When harvesting in Vietnam is active by February next year, it is likely that India would be importing more pepper from there. In July, this year Vietnam’s shipment to India was 807 tonnes of black pepper and 59 tonnes of white pepper. The country had shipped 11,215 tonnes during July, the US being the largest importer with 1,536 tonnes of black and 300 tonnes of white.
Currently, India has a monthly average export of 1,000 tonnes which is nowhere in the global pepper mart. Even in August, when India has an almost par level in prices with other origins, external demand is very limited, especially from traditional buyers like EU and the US.
In June this year US imported 4,455 tonnes of black pepper of which India’s contribution was 617 tonnes. Indonesian shipment was 2,464 tonnes. During January-June period of current year, US imported 23,033 tonnes of pepper and a major chunk was from Vietnam and Indonesia.
