The figures were released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which unveiled that the US emerged as the country’s largest consumption market in the reviewed time.

The ministry also mentioned Germany, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as the other large markets for Vietnamese pepper, the world’s biggest producer with 30 percent of the world’s yield.

It attributed pepper export surge to the growing demand for the spice in several foreign markets while other main pepper-growing countries, including Indonesia, Brazil, and India, reduced their supplies due to the impact of climate change.

In the meantime, Vietnam is accelerating pepper exports, expecting to sell abroad an additional 20,000 tonnes in the next two months.

Economic experts forecast that pepper exports would register a positive growth for the whole year on the back of the 10-month surges in both volume and value and optimistic signs in the world market.

Pepper is growing on about 50,000 ha in Vietnam, with 41,000 ha giving yields.

This year, the country’s pepper output would reach 95,000 tonnes, a 10 percent increase over last year’s crop.