Pepper farmers hit by crisis

More than 40,000 farmers in the central province of Shaanxi are among the latest victims of the Asian currency crisis, which has cut demand and prices for the pepper they export. The China Business Times yesterday reported that the price of Shaanxi pepper had fallen from 9,500 yuan (about HK$8,835) a tonne to 4,000 yuan and exports by 66 per cent between October and January, from the same period a year earlier, in the wake of devaluations around the region.