Pepper prices may recover as China emerges leading importer

Global pepper prices are likely to recover in the near-term, with China emerging a leading importer of Vietnam black pepper after the US.

Quoting figures from the Vietnam Pepper Association, sources in the trade said that Chinese imports have gone up considerably from 3,112 tonnes in 2015 to 14,510 tonnes in 2017 and in the first three months of 2018 the numbers have gone up to 6,979 tonnes.

Earlier China had a major interest in white pepper and now they have started concentrating on black pepper in the wake of rising domestic consumption.

KK Vishwanath, Coordinator, Consortium of Pepper Growers Association, said that the MIP notification issued by the Commerce Ministry started impacting pepper imports which has come down to 1,300 tonnes last month from 6,000 tonnes earlier.