Next year's pepper harvest decline in Malaysia as a result of heavy rains and storms in Sarawak, the country's main pepper growing region, at the tail end of this year's harvest. Most of this year's crop was in before the arrival of inclement weather. But, the conditions could affect next year's crops because it makes it hard for farmers to fertlize plants and may damage flowers. Malaysia's pepper crop starts flowering in October and is harvested between March and the end of September.
Traders have differing opinions on the extent of damage from heavy storms the past weekend.
Malaysia is considered to the world's fifth largest producer of pepper. This year's harvest is projected at 25,000 MT by the International Pepper Community. The country expects to generate about 2,500 MT of white pepper this year and is trying to expand output to 2,750 MT next year. Subcribers get complete access to all articles on the STATpub wesbite. Features include weekly updated price graphs, regularly updated supply-demand estimates, and plenty of other features.