Today's pepper price in the domestic market was flat in some key localities, trading from 72.500 to 75.500 VND/kg.
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| Pepper price today 3/6/2023, planting area in Dong Nai decreased by nearly 50% compared to the heyday; growers can 'miss the wave' of prices. (Source: The Kitchen) |
Today's pepper price in the domestic market was flat in some key localities, trading from 72.500 to 75.500 VND/kg.
Specifically, today's pepper price in Gia Lai is the lowest in the market at 72.500 VND/kg.
Pepper price today in Dong Nai provinces (73.000 VND/kg); Dak Nong, Dak Lak (74.000 VND/kg); Binh Phuoc (75.000 VND/kg) and Ba Ria - Vung Tau at the highest level is 75.500 VND/kg.
On the world market, at the end of the latest trading session, the International Pepper Community (IPC) listed the price of Vietnamese black pepper at $3.500/ton with 500 g/l grade, 550 g/l grade at $3.600/ton; white pepper price at 5.000 USD/ton.
The domestic market has moved sideways in recent days in the context of higher coffee prices.
Director of Xuan Tho Pepper Cooperative (Xuan Tho commune, Xuan Loc district, Dong Nai province) Tran Huu Thang compared, in the past, farmers could harvest 6-7 tons of pepper/ha, but now every garden can only get from 3-4 tons/ha. The yield of old pepper gardens is much lower, so the price increase of pepper is not enough to attract growers.
According to Mr. Thang, many pepper gardens 20 years ago still had high yields, but now many gardens are old after only a few years of harvesting. In which, there is a reason why the price of pepper is hot, farmers massively invest and grow pepper on lands that are not suitable for soil, so pepper gardens quickly fade.
By the end of 2022, the pepper area in Dong Nai province is only about 10,7 thousand hectares, a decrease of nearly 50% of the area compared to the heyday of this crop. Not only has the area decreased sharply, the yield of this crop is also increasingly poor.
According to the Vietnam Pepper and Spices Association (VPSA), pepper production in the 2022-2023 crop is forecast to increase by 10% to about 200.000 tons thanks to favorable weather factors.
However, in some localities, there is a trend of cutting down pepper trees to switch to other fruit trees for higher income, especially durian.
The association said that if the cutting of pepper to switch to fruit trees lasts for a long time, there may be a shortage of supply in the next three years.
Besides, VPSA said that if Vietnam's pepper production fell deeply due to the strong wave of crop shifting, farmers could "miss the wave" of pepper prices.
Because when cutting pepper trees, growers will need to take three years to reinvest and zero profits, not until the 0th year can begin to harvest.
In case pepper prices rise again due to shortage of supply, it will take a long time for farmers to harvest and benefit from new orchards. At that time, pepper growers became the latecomers.
Specifically, it will take farmers a total of 6 years, including 3 years of planting and 3 years of price increase, pepper price is expected to have peaked at that time. Meanwhile, with durian tree, although it is giving much better profit than pepper, 1 hectare can earn 1 billion but it also takes time for the tree to grow.
