Star anise. — Photo congthuong.vn

HÀ NỘI — India was the main market of Vietnamese star anise exports last month.

The country imported 1,033 tonnes of Vietnamese star anise last month, accounting for 69.8 per cent of the total exported volume of this goods and increasing by 60 per cent compared to the previous month.

Statistics from the Việt Nam Pepper Association (VPA) show that Vietnamese star anise exports reached 1,480 tonnes last month with a turnover of more than US$7 million, a sharp growth of 48.3 per cent compared to the previous month.

Accumulated in the first four months of the year, Việt Nam exported 3,915 tonnes of star anise with a total turnover of $20.3 million, down 21.1 per cent in volume and 34.6 per cent in turnover.

India and the US are the two main markets of Vietnamese star anise exports, accounting for 61.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent, reaching 2,409 tonnes and 295 tonnes, respectively.

Việt Nam and China are the only two countries that can produce star anise in large quantities thanks to favourable conditions.

Việt Nam has an anise growing area of about 40,000 hectares, mainly in Lạng Sơn and Cao Bằng, with an annual output of more than 16,000 tonnes.

Việt Nam is currently one of the strongest countries in exporting spices with the world's leading position in pepper production and export.

The country ranks first in the world in cinnamon export, and second in anise star export. — VNS