There is spicy news for pepper growers in India. The export subsidy policy of India has helped the country -- after a gap of five years -- outweigh Vietnam to emerge as the largest exporter of black pepper to the US in January.

Major export houses were able to ship the commodity in large quantities between November 2006 and January 2007, with the subsidy bringing about a level playing field in the domestic and the global prices of black pepper.

Of the total US imports of 4,226 tonne in January, India shipped 1,870 tonne, followed by 1,225 tonne from Brazil, 465 tonne from Indonesia, 375 tonne from Vietnam and 115 tonne from Malaysia.

Vietnam, Brazil and Indonesia dominated the US market for the last five years, with India at the bottom of the list.

The drop in the January exports of Vietnam was due to the offseason in the country. Vietnam's stock position was rather weak between October 2006 and January 2007, as the country had shipped around 118,000 tonne during the 2006 season.

Between January 2006 and January 2007, the total US imports jumped to 59,724 tonne, almost equal to the average annual production of India. In the previous period, the US imports accounted for 56,760 tonne.

Meanwhile, signaling a better crop in the current year, Vietnam's total exports in February increased to 4,258 tonne from 3,447 tonne in January. Germany topped the importers' list of the Vietnam variety in February with 687 tonne, followed by Singapore importing 565 tonne and India coming third, importing 548 tonne from Vietnam in February, with black pepper accounting for 427 tonne and white pepper making up 121 tonne.

According to analysts, with the gap between Indian and Vietnamese tags widening, pepper processors were now looking at Vietnam as a cheaper destination and imports from the country would rise in the coming months.

Even in January, the processors had imported 662 tonne, mainly from Brazil. While the Indian exports during April 2006-January 2007 had increased to 22,270 tonne valued at Rs 230.32 crore, the exports in January alone were 1,917 tonne worth Rs 26.79 crore.

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