The area under black pepper has grown from 80 thousand ha in 1950-51 to 216 thousand ha in 2002-03 (Table 11 .XII) at an average annual rate of 3.27%.
Kerala
Kerala is the leading producer of black pepper in the country (Table 11.XIII). It contributed 93.06 per cent of the total area and 94 per cent of the total production of the country’s black pepper in 2000-01. Kannur and Kozhikode districts together account for 56 per cent of the state’s output of pepper. Other important producers include Kottayam, Tiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Idukki, Palakkad and Ernakulam districts.
Karnataka
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Kamataka accounts for 4.63 per cent of the total area and 3 per cent of the total production of black pepper in the country. Here Uttar Kannada, DakshinaKannada, Kodagu,Shimoga,Chikmagalur and Hassan districts are main producers.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu occupies 1.85 per cent of the total area and 1.56 per cent of the total production of black pepper in the country. Here bulk of the production is contributed by Salem, Madurai, Nilgiris, Kanniyakumari and Tiruvannamalai districts.
The Union territories of Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar islands also produce a small quantity of pepper.
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Trade
About 40 per cent of the total production of black pepper is exported. The bulk of export goes to Russia, U.S.A., U.A.R., U.K., Canada, Mexico, Sudan and European countries. In 1977-78 the total export was 25,250 tonnes valued at Rs. 50 crores.
This rose to 32,000 tons valued at Rs. 1 12 crores in 1993-94.