Monthly Publication

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As per the agreed production figure of pepper for year 2015 at the 43rd session of the IPC held from 22nd - 26th November 2015 in Mysore, India, would be at the level of around 407,000 Mt and total export would be at 292,500Mt as against 359,500 Mt of production and and 278.600 Mt of export in 2014. Production and export may increase by 47,500 Mt and 14,000 Mt, respectively. A significant increase in production was mainly due to increase of production in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Supported by increased supply in 2015, import of Pepper by producing countries is estimated to decrease by 25%. Taking into account of stock brought forward from 2014, import and domestic consumption in 2015, carry forward stock for 2016 would be around 73,500 Mt.

In November 2015 Pepper prices at source markets showed a mixed response. On an average however, Pepper price was relatively stable. Local prices of Pepper in Brazil, Malaysia and Sri Lanka increased; while in India and Indonesia decreased marginally. In Vietnam, the local price was relatively stable. In the FOB price of Pepper, an increase of around 3-4% was recorded in Malaysia and Vietnam. In Indonesia a marginal increase of 1% was also recorded; while in India and Brazil the FOB prices decreased marginally by 1%.

The IPC Pepper price index increased marginally by 2.11 point for Black pepper but a slight decrease of 0.22 point was recorded for White Pepper in November 2015 (Table1). The composite price of Pepper increased marginally by 0.6% to US$ 9,507 per Mt for Black pepper and decreased by 0.1% for White pepper in November 2015 (Table 2).

Table 1: IPC Price Index (Base price: Average 2006 - 2010)

Table 2: Composite Price of Black and White Pepper (US$/Mt)

Note: Composite prices are derived from calculation of monthly export and FOB price of the top five pepper exporting countries (Vietnam, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Malaysia)

In Lampung, Pepper price has been quite stable throughout the month of October and November 2015 from the average price of US$7,762/Mt. to $7,786/Mt., respectively with negligible volatility in the local farm gate Pepper price whereas the FOB price for ASTA grade Black Pepper increased by around 3% for the month of November compared to previous month. The CFOB price for Muntok white Pepper was less volatility in the November compared to the previous month. Market sources from trade and farmers in the Lampung and Banka regions of Pepper production, it is informed that the Pepper crop is badly affected and as per recent information, around 25% to 30% plantations have died because of prevailed dry and hot weather condition till earlier November. It is informed that the replanting of Pepper would be carried up in this rainy season to fill the vacancies.

As per the information from the Market sources and farmers in India, expected production in the next year is to reduce by around 25%to 30% due to dry weather prevailed. The local and FOB black Pepper price movement saw an upward trend of around 4% in the month November compared to the previous month.

Local and FOB black Pepper price in Malaysia was also stable and negligible volatility in price movements were noticed for the month of November compared to previous month .While local price of Sarawak white Pepper decreased by 1.5% but no much changes in the FOB price were noticed for the month of November compared to the previous month.

Local black Pepper price in Sri Lanka increased by around 5% in the month of November compared to the previous month. The price movements were noticed quite volatile for the month of November compare to previous month.

In Vietnam, a decrease of around 1% in local Black Pepper prices for the month of November was observed compared to the previous month .There was not much price volatility of FOB price of Black Pepper. The local White Pepper price increased from US$11,920 to US$12,040/Mt. for the month of November compared to previous month showing an increase of mere 1% change but no significant change in FOB prices.

BLACK PEPPER

Table 3: Local Price of Black Pepper in US$ per MT

Table 4: FOB Prices of Black Pepper in US$ per MT

WHITE PEPPER

Table 5: Local Prices of White Pepper in US$ per MT

Table 6: FOB Price of White Pepper in US$ per MT

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