Phuc Sinh Corporation's products. The company strongly moved into pepper sector with the investment on high standard technology and development of pepper products called K Pepper. — VNS Photo Van Chau

Phuc Sinh Corporation, one of the country’s leading pepper and coffee production and trading company, has launched its freeze-dried K-Pepper.

Speaking at a press briefing, Phan Minh Thong, its president, said K-Pepper is the first freeze-dried pepper in Viet Nam, and the technology helps keep the spice retain its pungency and natural colour longer.

The product has been granted international certifications such as Rainforest Alliance which meet comprehensive environmental, social and economic standards for sustainability, Halal and Kosher, he added.

Phuc Sinh is reported the world’s largest pepper exporter, accounting for 8 per cent of all global shipments.

The company is also a large exporter of its K-coffee, shipping 65,000-70,000 tonnes a year.

K Coffee products are made from UTZ-Certified coffee beans and meet BRC (British Retail Consortium) Global Standards, Thong said.

BRC Global Standards are now often demanded by retailers, manufacturers and food service organisations around the world.

Thong said his company works with farmers to produce UTZ Certified coffee, the largest sustainability programme in the world for coffee, though initially it had faced difficulties in convincing them to adopt the standards.

To have the best quality coffee products, besides farming techniques such as not using excessive fertilisers or plant protection chemicals, farmers must also harvest when the ratio of ripe beans in a branch is at least 90 per cent whereas for a long time farmers harvested them when many were still unripe, he added.

Viet Nam is the world’s largest pepper exporter and second largest coffee exporter. — VNS