Spices and Herbs

the market. After 1993 prices recovered and the market became
more dependent on the actual size of annual crops. Prices gradually
increased and after a stock depletion due to bad weather, they
reached a record level in late 1997. In the first half of 1997 The
Netherlands increased its stock level, which explains the fact that
Dutch imports were much higher than actual consumption that
year.
Between 1995 and 1997 imports increased by 30 per cent to a total
volume of 18,201 tonnes and almost doubled in value. The high
value in 1997 was mainly due to higher prices of black
peppercorns (called “Lampong”) from Indonesia, which is also a
major supplier of white pepper (“Banga” or “Muntok”).
In 1995 44 per cent of Dutch pepper imports came from Indonesia.
In 1997 Indonesia suffered from an extreme drought and was
severely hit by the economic crisis in South East Asia. In that year
only 22 per cent of Dutch pepper imports came from Indonesia.
Instead, more pepper came from Singapore, Brazil, China,
Malaysia (Sarawak) and from new supplying countries like
Vietnam and India.
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