Dynamics Of Competitiveness and Performance in The Indonesian Whole Pepper Export Market

Pepper, known as the king of spices, is one of Indonesia’s leading export commodities. With the largest cultivated area and ranking second in global production after Vietnam, Indonesia exported 93% of its pepper in whole form in 2023. However, its export value has declined in recent years, especially in major markets. This study aims to examine the competitiveness of Indonesia’s whole pepper and to evaluate its export performance in key international markets over the period 2012–2023. The analysis employs the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and Export Product Dynamics (EPD) methods to assess competitiveness, while the X-Model is used to analyze export market performance. The RCA analysis shows that Indonesian whole pepper is highly competitive in ten major destination countries. Meanwhile, the EPD results indicate that the competitiveness of Indonesian whole pepper across export destinations fluctuated over the analysis period. In period 1, the “rising star” position was achieved in Singapore and Taiwan; in period 2, in Vietnam, the United States of America, the Netherlands, and France; in period 3, only in China; and in period 4, in Japan and Taiwan. Furthermore, the X-Model analysis of Indonesia’s whole pepper export market performance indicates that Japan and Taiwan show strong market performance, while Vietnam, Singapore, India, and China show potential. In contrast, the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, and France show less potential market.