Pepper price today December 18, 2023, surprising again; pepper growing has low profits; comments on 'feasible' price in 2024

Pepper price today, December 18, 2023, in the domestic market suddenly increased sharply in some key localities, trading from 82,000 - 85,500 VND/kg.

Giá tiêu hôm nay. (Nguồn: Incredibleman)

Pepper price today, December 18, 2023, surprises again; pepper growing has low profits; comments on 'feasible' price in 2024. (Source: Incredibleman)

Pepper prices today, December 18, 2023, in the domestic market suddenly increased sharply in some key localities, trading from 82,000 - 85,500 VND/kg.

Specifically, pepper price today in Gia Lai is at 82,000 VND/kg.

Pepper prices today in Dong Nai province (82,500 VND/kg); Dak Nong, Dak Lak (85,000 VND/kg); Ba Ria - Vung Tau (85,000 VND/kg) and Binh Phuoc (85,500 VND/kg).

Thus, in the domestic market, pepper prices recorded 6 consecutive days of increase in key production areas, officially surpassing the 85,000 VND/kg mark. This is probably the strongest price increase in many months. In summary, last week, domestic pepper prices increased by an average of 8,000 VND/kg.

Recently, demand from the world market has shown signs of recovery, with domestic and export pepper prices continuously increasing again. This opens up expectations that pepper will soon regain its position as a billion-dollar export industry in 2024.

In the domestic market, in the first half of December alone, the price of raw black pepper in the Central Highlands provinces increased by 12 - 14% (8,500 - 10,000 VND/kg) compared to the end of last month to 79,500 - 82,000 VND/kg. This is the highest level recorded since March 2022. If calculated from the beginning of November until now, the domestic black pepper price has increased by about 20 - 22%.

Citing the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association (VPSA), the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that the price of black pepper in the domestic market has been continuously increasing, signaling a not-so-optimistic harvest next year. Although China's import demand has weakened, demand from Europe and the US has increased again, causing prices to increase sharply.

Vietnam has exported all of its 2023 harvest, with some of the exports coming from imports as well as stocks from the previous year. The 2023 stocks carried over to 2024 will be the lowest in many years.

Concerns about reduced supply and a shortage of exports have led to a continuous increase in domestic pepper prices since the end of November 2023. In recent years, pepper acreage and output have been decreasing. Specifically, in 2020, the pepper growing area was more than 130,000 hectares, in 2023 it decreased to 120,000 hectares, with an output of 190,000 tons.

The reason for this situation is that pepper prices have been low for a long time, while durian cultivation is bringing in very attractive profits. According to a survey of 450 pepper-growing households, the profit from pepper plants is about 2,000 USD/ha, while durian-growing households earn 20 times more, or more than 40,000 USD/ha.

Commenting on the prospect of pepper prices in 2024, Mr. Le Duc Huy, General Director of Dak Lak 2-9 Import-Export Company Limited (Simexco) said that the price of 85,000 - 90,000 VND/kg is feasible.

Mr. Huy explained that not only Vietnam but also many pepper growing countries such as India and Brazil are forecast to have poor output due to the impact of the bad weather pattern of El Nino. Meanwhile, in the first quarter of 2024, the purchase volume of Western countries may be concentrated at the same time due to depleted inventories. This will help push up domestic pepper prices.

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