Vietnamese pepper exporters not pushing sales
Vietnamese pepper exporters are less interested in making sales for the January and February shipment months, PepperDeskBV noted in a recent report.
Gerwald Kras of PepperDesk observed that the country’s pepper exporters are preparing for the Lunar Holidays which start on February 8.
For shipments from March onwards it is possible to negotiate discounts of USD100 per tonne over the current market prices, Kras explained.
He viewed Brazilian pepper prices as unchanged from the south (Vitoria) but on the higher side from Belem.
“We estimate that about 10,000 tonnes of pepper is carried over in 2016 and some of this is already committed. Most of the stocks are in financially stronger hands and we expect to see higher prices for the months to come. There is ongoing demand for low pesticide pepper from Brazil from Europe,” Kras added.
He noted that Indonesia will have a “catch crop” of pepper in early February. “This is mainly low density pepper. The prevailing pepper prices in Lampung are much higher than from Vietnam,” Kras observed.
PepperDesk expects some spot tightness for the coming four to six months. After this there will be peak arrivals from Vietnam. Kras recalled that in the last two seasons the bottom of the market was placed in January so it remains to be seen whether there will be a change from this scenario this year.
In its report for the week to January 15, the International Pepper Community noted that the market was moving slowly, with decreasing prices in India and Vietnam.
However, fob prices of Vietnamese pepper remained stable. In Lampung and Sri Lanka black pepper prices in the local market increased marginally and a slight upturn was also reported for white pepper in China.
In Sarawak, prices were seen as holding stable with a marginal decrease of the price in dollar terms on the local market, due to a weakening of the Malaysian ringgit against US dollar. A stable price was also recorded in Bangka.
Brazil boosts exports
Brazilian pepper exports were expected to be higher in 2015 than 2014.
IPC noted that this is feasible as pepper production in Brazil was reported to be better in 2015.
In view of the favourable crop, the IPC envisaged Brazilian pepper exports of 36,000 tonnes in calendar year 2015.
In fact, the actual volume has exceeded even the latter expectation.
Latest data for the full year from GTIS and SECEX – the Foreign Trade Secretariat – shows that Brazilian pepper exports increased by nearly 11% year-on-year in 2015 to reach 38,034 tonnes.
The top three markets over the period were the US, Germany and Spain.
