Black pepper is the dried, mature but unripe berry (fruit) of Piper nigrum, a branching vine or climbing, perennial shrub. Black pepper is the most important spice of India and world due to its day-to-day use. It is therefore rightly considered as the 'king of spices'.

Black pepper comes from the berries of the pepper plant. Black pepper, green pepper and white peppercorns are actually the same fruit (Piper nigrum); the difference in their color is a reflection of varying stages of development and processing methods.

Black peppercorns are made by picking the pepper berries when they are half ripe and just about to turn red. They are then left to dry which causes them to shrivel and become dark in color. Alternatively, green peppercorns are picked while still unripe and green in color, while white peppercorns are picked when very ripe and subsequently soaked in brine to remove their dark outer shell leaving just the white pepper seed.

Black pepper is the most pungent and flavorful of all types of peppers and it is available as whole or cracked peppercorns or ground into powder.

Native to India, pepper has played a very important role throughout history and has been a prized spice since ancient times. Since ancient Greece, pepper has held such high prestige that it was not only used as a seasoning but as a currency and a sacred offering. Pepper was used to both honor the gods and to pay taxes and ransoms. During the fall of ancient Rome, the invading barbarians were even honored by being given black pepper. Additionally, in the Middle Ages the wealth of a man was oftentimes measured by his stockpile of pepper.

The reason that pepper was so cherished is that it served important culinary purposes. Not only could its pungency spice up otherwise bland foods, but it could disguise a food's lack of freshness, the latter being an especially important quality in the times before efficient means of preservation.

Pepper became an important spice that catalyzed much of the spice trade. This not only led to exploration of many undiscovered lands, but also to the development of major merchant cities in Europe and the Middle East.

Black pepper should be kept in a tightly sealed glass container in a cool, dark and dry place. Whole peppercorns will keep almost indefinitely, while ground pepper will stay fresh for about three months. Pepper can also be frozen although this will make its flavor more pronounced.

In plains the harvesting season extends from November to January and in hills from January to March. But in Kerala (having production share of 96 % in India) plants flower in the month of May-June. The Crop takes about 6-8 months from flowering to harvest.

It is one of the most ancient crops cultivated in India. It probably originated in the hills of South-Western India i.e. from North Kanara to Kanyakumari. It is mostly found in hot and moist parts of Southern India. Kerala alone contributes about 96 per cent of the total production in India, next comes Karnataka with 3.5 percent. The rest is contributed by Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Andaman & Nicobar.

Kerala alone accounts for 94 percent of the total area and 96 percent of the total production of pepper in India. Even though pepper is cultivated throughout Kerala, Calicut, Cannanore, Kottayam and Idukki districts account for 67 % of the total pepper area.

In Karnataka, Kodagu, North Kanara, South Kanara and Shimoga are major centers of pepper production. Likewise in Tamil Nadu, Kanyakumari, Nilgiris and Mahe in Pondicherry are the other major centers of pepper production. Black pepper is also grown in some parts of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and North Eastern region. But now pepper cultivation has spread to some parts of Goa and Maharashtra also.

There has been a change in the production trend among states and the rising interest towards pepper production also in states other than Kerala. Though production has gone up in Kerala, its contribution has fallen a bit from 98% in 1995-96 to 96% in 2002-03. In 2006-07 Kerala�s share in the production was 96%. The production in 2002-03 in Andaman and Nicobar is higher than the previous years, yet it is less than 1% of total domestic production. The share of Tamil Nadu is unchanged at 1%, but that of Karnataka has gone up from 1% to 3% in 2006-07, with the simultaneous rise in area under cultivation and productivity.

Pepper Production in 2006-07
State	Area (in ha)	Production (in MT)
Kerala	237,998	87,605
Karnataka	10,690	2,360
Tamil Nadu	3,745	851
Andaman & Nicobar	697	40
Total	253,130	90,856

Other major pepper producing countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

1 Hindi Kalimirch

2 Sanskrit Maricha ushana, hopusha

3 Punjabi Kalimirch

4 Marathi Ale

5 Bengali Kala Mirch, Golmarich

6 Telugu Miriyalu

7 Tamil Milagu

8 Gujarati Kalamari, Kalomirch

9 Kannada Kare menasu

10 Kashmiri Marutis

11 Malayalam Kurumulaku, Nallamulaku

12 Oriya Gol-maricha

13 Urdu Kalimirch, Siah mirch

There are different varieties of Black pepper and their names are originated from the localities where they grown or from ports through which they are being exported, e.g. Malabar, Alleppey (Kerala), Lampang, Saigon and Singapore. Majority of the cultivated varieties are monoecious i.e. male and female flowers found in the same spike. Peppers differ slightly in their physical and chemical characteristics; colour, size, shape, flavour and bite.

Black pepper is more aromatic than the other varieties of pepper. It is native to Malabar and has been grown here for more than 2000 years. The best Black Pepper is considered to be Telicherry and Lampong. The most popular varieties from India are Malabar Garbled and Tellichery Black. Tellichery and Alleppey peppers are large, attractive, dark reddish-brown to black, very aromatic and are among the best. Same in case of the Malabar Garbled (MGI), which alone accounts for nearly 90% of the total exports from India.

Production has been rising from a range of 48,000 tons to 66,000 tons few years ago to 70,251 MT in 1995-96, 70,617 MT in 1998-99, 70,6660 MT in 2002-03 and 90,856 MT in 2005-06. Since the year 1999-00 the area under Pepper cultivation in India has shown a rising trend also. Area under pepper cultivation has increased from 1,71,000 hectares in 1990 to 2,23,086 hectares in 2002-03 and 2,53,130 hectares in 2005-06.

Yield varies widely in different areas and depends on several factors such as soil fertility, availability of irrigation facilities, type and quality of manure, climate, type of variety, age of vine, etc. In India, generally yield varies from 110 kg to 355 kg per hectare (average 275 kg only). When compared with other countries (Malaysia 4,130 kg, Brazil 3,400 kg) average yield in India is very less. One reason for its low productivity in India is that it is grown mostly by small farmers along with other crops on small holdings, whereas in other countries like Malaysia and Brazil it is grown as a pure crop. The productivity is also low because of the continued use of old cultivation methods and shortage of well rooted cuttings of high yielding varieties, advent of pests and diseases like slow-wilt, wilt, little leaf and quick wilt. Of these, quick wilt is the most harmful disease, which spreads rapidly destroying a large number of vines, estimated at about 20 per cent of the total crop almost every year in the country.

The difference between production and exports (along with stocks at the beginning of a year) forms domestic consumption. The domestic consumption consists of pepper for culinary usage, grinding, extraction of oil and oleoresins, pharmaceutical companies etc. Traditionally Indians are fond of spices. The cumulative domestic consumption in producing countries shows a rising trend with 108,763 tons in 2001, 1,15,985 tons in 2002 and 1,24,450 tons in 2003. On the other hand, the cumulative stock carryover was 74886 tons in 2001 which rose to 82361 tons in 2002 and again fell to 76745 tons in 2003.

In India, the domestic consumption of black pepper was 52000 tons in 2002 which rose to 58,000 tons in 2003. This shows that the consumption is increasing in various sectors in India. Radical increase in domestic consumption is attributed by extensive use of pepper in drug and pharmaceutical industry; and in food processing industry.

Highest export in the last decade was reported in 1994; approximately 94% of total pepper production was exported. The pepper export from India, from 1991, shows a downward trend. With 13031 MT exports in 1991, it went up to the highest at 48661 MT in 1994 and then witnessed almost a continuous decline upto 14148 MT in 2005, except the year 1997 when it reached 47,624 MT. As a result of this interestingly, the stock carryover was 30,866 tons and 30,666 tons in 2002 & 2003 respectively because of stagnation of International demand for Indian pepper.

Exports increased to 17,363 MT in 2006 and 28,750 MT in 2007 and 35,000 MT in 2008. The Government provided export subsidy during 2007 in order to encourage exports.

The import of pepper into India has been increasing gradually from 1,472 MT in 1991 to 17,725 MT in 2005. As per the current Foreign Trade policy, there is no quantitative restriction on import of spices into India. The tariff for imports has also been steadily brought down. Under the bilateral agreement with Sri Lanka, duty free import of spices is permitted. Duty free imports are possible for value addition and re-export. Traditionally India has been an exporter of pepper. India has a more or less stable production of 55,000 � 65,000 MT of pepper during 1992-2002. Since production has stabilized and domestic demand is increasing, import of pepper has increased considerably after 2000. According to the recent statistics released by the Spice Board of India, 17,725 MT pepper is expected to be imported in 2004-05 which is 3,391 MT more than the previous year import. Import trend for last 15 years is given in the graph below:

Pepper is mostly produced in South India and therefore almost all important markets are located in South India. Major markets of pepper in India are Cochin, Alleppey, Calicut ,Nedumangad, Konni, Adoor, Pala, Alwaye, Thodupuzha, Chalakudy, Badagara, Cannanore, Tellicherry, Kanjangad, Kasaradod and Mumbai.

Till 1999 India was the main producer and exporter of Pepper in the world followed by Indonesia. 1999 onwards Vietnam emerged as the top producing and exporting country. This shift in production is due to bringing in large number of hectares under pepper cultivation. According to International Pepper Community Vietnam exported 98,484 tons of pepper in 2004, an increase of almost 32% over the 74,635 tons exported in 2003. Besides Vietnam; Indonesia and Brazil are other important producers and exporters of pepper.

In 2000 India exported 36,314 tons of pepper. Its important market was USA, UK and other European countries and Arab countries. During these years export destination has also seen a change. Today Germany is the hot destination for pepper followed by USA and Saudi Arabia.

Pepper price variations are influenced by many factors like international prices, domestic production and consumption; and export � import policies. Data available for last ten years visualizes sea change in average prices of the king of spices. In January 2001 average pepper price was Rs.12892 per quintal which fell to Rs.6394 per quintal in February 2002. High fluctuation in prices continued till March 2003. However, high volatility in pepper prices in Indian market got restricted after the launch of futures trading of pepper in the country. From February 2003 to February 2005 pepper price had fallen by Rs.2000 per quintal. Main reason for international price fall in pepper is its higher production and supply from Vietnam. In 1999, 30,000 tons of pepper was produced in Vietnam which increased sharply to 85,000 tons in 2003 which is 30% of global pepper production. In 2003 Vietnam exported 75,000 tons out of its total production which contributed 40% of global trade. The average monthly pepper price fall to the mark of Rs.6,055 per quintal in December 2004 was result of duty free import policy. In the interest of pepper planters, the Central Government recently imposed heavy import duty on pepper but the cheap import from Sri Lanka has continued under �Free Trade Agreement� between the two countries which have caused an adverse impact on pepper prices and pepper planter�s community as a whole.