THE Pepper Marketing Board Malaysia has invested about RM10mil in new processing facilities in Kuching to improve the quality of its products, general manager Grunsin Ayom said yesterday. They include a sterilisation plant and a grinding plant. Under installation is a micro-encapsulation plant.
Ayom said Malaysia exported about 21,500 tonnes of pepper worth about RM120mil last year. Exports in 2001 were valued at RM170mil.
“The drop in export earnings was due to lower prices,” he told reporters after accompanying State Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Adenan Satem on a tour of the processing facilities.
Ayom said the board had established new markets, like Russia, for Sarawak Pepper, which was being sold in many countries.
He said Sarawak was expected to get RM22mil in special assistance from the federal government to help pepper farmers who had been hard hit by the depressed pepper prices. They can expect to receive payment by March.
