Vietnam, the world's biggest pepper exporter, shipped abroad 89,000 tons of pepper worth 129 million U. S. dollars in the first seven months of this year, recording respective year-on-year surges of 36.9 percent and 44.3 percent.

The surges are mainly attributed to higher world prices and bigger volume of processed pepper, according to the Vietnam Pepper Association on Tuesday.

Export prices of Vietnamese pepper are now standing at some 1, 575 U.S. dollars per ton, 175 dollars higher than early this year, partly because of its higher quality and the world's smaller pepper output caused by unfavorable weather conditions.

Vietnam, which used to export raw pepper, has in recent years intensified investment in employing advanced production lines to turn out high-grade pepper, capable of meeting strict requirements set by such big markets as the European Union, the United States and Japan, the association said.

Last year, Vietnam exported 110,000 tons of pepper worth 152 million dollars, to 73 markets, including the European Union, the United States, Russia, China and Singapore, down 1.8 percent in volume and 0.6 percent in value over the previous year.

Vietnam now houses 52,500 hectares of pepper, with average output of 2.3 tons per hectare, said the association. Southern Binh Phuoc province alone has nearly 13,500 hectares.

Source: Xinhua