Pepper imports into Vietnam are expected to soar fivefold to 10,000 tonnes this year, an industry report said on Monday, adding that would help push up exports from the world's largest producer of black pepper.

The higher import volume, plus an annual output rise of 11 percent to 100,000 tonnes and stock carried over from last year, would help lift pepper exports this year to 120,000 tonnes, the Vietnam Pepper Association said in a statement.

That would be 34 percent higher than the 89,700 tonnes exported last year according to both the association and the government.

Vietnam, which produces a third of the world's pepper, imports the crop from Cambodia mostly for re-export.

Its domestic consumption for both 2008 and 2009 is put at around 3,500 tonnes.

The association's projection for exports for 2009 of 120,000 tonnes, reviewed at a Dec. 4 meeting of the International Pepper Community in Brazil, is below the government statistics agency's estimate for January to November.

The General Statistics Office said on Nov. 30 that Vietnam exported nearly 128,000 tonnes of pepper in the first 11 months of this year, up 52.3 percent from a year earlier

The association gave no fresh output or export projections for next year. In early October it said Typhoon Ketsana flattened 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) of pepper plants in the central part of Vietnam and could reduce its 2010 crop output. [ID:nHAN11464]

The Jakarta-based International Pepper Community groups Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.