Black Pepper Production by Country 2024

Black pepper is one of the most fundamental seasonings in a vast selection of cuisines from around the globe. Made from the dried, immature fruit of the pepper vine, it provides a pungent spice to dishes of all varieties, whether it's integrated into recipes or used to amp up prepared dishes. But most of the world's production of black pepper comes from just a few countries.

Vietnam is the world's top black pepper producer, growing 288,167 tons of the spice in 2021. That's more than a third of the world's overall production and more than twice the output of second place, Brazil, which produced 118,057 tons of black pepper. There's another steep drop to Indonesia in third (81,219 tons), followed by Burkina Faso (67,983 tons) and India (64,816 tons) to round out the top five. Seven of the world's top ten black pepper producers are in Asia. Just nine nations worldwide produce more than 10,000 tons of black pepper annually as of 2021 - Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia, Burkina Faso, India, Sri Lanka (42,485 tons), China (33,133 tons), Malaysia (31,636), and Tajikistan (21, 269.)

Among nations that grow and craft black pepper, the Caribbean island of St. Lucia is lowest at just four tons. Samoa put out 11 tons of the seasoning in 2021, followed by Brunei (29) and Ivory Coast (45.) The world's lowest producers are a mix of Pacific Island, Asian, and African nations.

The reasons for the disparity in pepper production aren't clear, as the plant can grow effectively in most warmer regions of the globe, outside of portions of Europe, North America, and Antarctica. Global production has grown more than 10% since 2019, with the biggest absolute increases in Vietnam. Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and Tajikistan are among the major black pepper-producing countries that saw declines in 2021 relative to 2019 levels.