The Hindu Business Line : Pepper futures recover on buying interest

All the positions on NCDEX and NMCE moved up and the increase was from Rs 12 to Rs 49 a quintal on NCDEX, while at the latter it was from Rs 54 to Rs 98 a quintal, except for July, which witnessed a decline of Rs 11 a quintal.

There is buying interest from Europe but people are waiting, as the prices are moving up. Buyers in the US are also expected to buy, provided the prices remained at acceptable levels, market sources told Business Line.

Positive climate

The Indian parity has gone up to $1,825 a tonne (c&f), while Indonesia was offering its new crop at $1,785 a tonne. Vietnam, which has almost exhausted its new crop, was quoting $1,850 a tonne (c&f) and there are no sellers at this rate, they said. Those contracted earlier in Vietnam are said to be defaulting. Contrary to expectations, pepper exports from Vietnam to China this year through border trade is said to be almost double.

The overall international situation at present is favourable for India, they claimed.

The July contract on NCDEX went up by Rs 49 to close at Rs 7,454 from Rs 7,405 a quintal on Tuesday, while on NMCE it fell by Rs 11 to close at Rs 7,450 (Rs 7,461).

The total turnover on NCDEX fell by 3,651 tonnes to 4,731 tonnes from 8,382 tonnes on Tuesday, while on NMCE it was down by 790 tonnes to 1,108 tonnes from 1,898 tonnes.

Open interest

The total open interest on NCDEX was 16,942 tonnes as against 16,581 tonnes. On NMCE, it was 2,983 tonnes compared to 2,907 tonnes.

The outstanding position for July and August was 4,140 tonnes and 6,712 tonnes respectively. The spot prices ruled steady at Tuesday's level at Rs 7,100 (un-garbled) and Rs 7,500 (MG 1) a quintal.