The yield of renowned Kampot pepper, one of Cambodia’s only two products to be registered as a Geographical Indication in the European Union, has been 120 tonnes in this harvest season, unchanged to last year, its association said on Monday.
The harvesting season ended up recently with a total yield of 120 tonnes, said Ngoun Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association.
So far, about 40 tonnes of dried pepper has been signed for exports with six main trading companies, Lay said on Sunday.
“The pepper yield is quite the same amount as last year, due to some farmers having dropped their farming, leading to the yield
not increasing,” Lay said.
Lay said the EU is the biggest market for pepper, about 80 percent and the rest goes to other countries, including the United States, Canada, China, Japan, and South Korea, among others.
He said Kampot pepper comes in three varieties – black, red and white – selling for $15,000 per tonne, 25,000 and $28,000, respectively.
Located in the southwestern region, the coastal province of Kampot has some 240 hectares of pepper farms, he said, adding that a hectare yields an average of 2.5 tonnes per annum and the harvest season runs from March to June.
Renowned for its delicate aroma and strong spicy taste, Kampot pepper, the country’s Geographical Indication product since 2010, is currently popular on the EU market.
The association is boosting exports to the China market, as a few amounts of commodities have been exported, Lay said.
“We have exported hundreds of kilogram of pepper to China, but we want a larger amount, so that we can increase the export to the international market,” he said.
Last year, the Kingdom exported 114 tonnes of Kampot pepper last year, up 63 percent from 70 tonnes in the year before.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
