The Hindu Business Line : Pepper prices continue to shoot up

All the futures contracts shot up even to touch the ceiling. Arrivals at the terminal markets continued to remain very thin. Those exporters having commitments are said to be nervous, as covering has become difficult. To meet the domestic demand the north Indian dealers are directly buying from the primary markets.

On NCDEX, February contract moved up steeply by Rs 485 to Rs 12,834 a quintal. The increase in other positions was from Rs 458 to Rs 572 a quintal. On NMCE, February contract went up by Rs 476 a quintal to Rs 12,376. The rise in other contracts was from Rs 440 to Rs 559 a quintal.

Turnover rises

The total turnover on NCDEX on Monday went up by 17,485 tonnes to 44,896 tonnes, while on NMCE it increased by 3,326 tonnes to 8,013 tonnes.

The total open interest on NCDEX moved up by 770 tonnes to close at 26,935 tonnes. The net open position for February dropped by 327 tonnes to 7,694 tonnes, while March position increased by 295 tonnes to 11,413 tonnes.

On NMCE, the total open interest increased by 83 tonnes to 4,283 tonnes and of this, the March position stood at 3,760 tonnes.

The growing domestic demand and short supply has pushed up the spot prices on Monday by Rs 300 a quintal to close at Rs 11,800 (un-garbled) and Rs 12,400 (MG 1).

Market observers, quoting some of the players, told Business Line that the prices might hit Rs 150 a kg and even more.

International Market

According to International Pepper Community, the black pepper market at sources showed an improvement last week. At Kochi, local price of un-garbled black moved up by four per cent. Activity at the Commodity exchange increased, as indicated by an increase in the volume of trading for February - April positions. Futures prices for the month of February - July 2007 increased, by 3-4 per cent.

At Kuching, local prices increased by MR100 a tonne to MR 7,840 at the week's close. Compared to last week the price increased marginally by one per cent, while f.o.b prices were reported stable. At HCMC, Vietnam, the market also showed an improvement. F.o.b prices were reported at the levels of $2,250 a tonne for black 500g/l and $2,320 for 550g/l.

At Daklak, local prices for raw material were reported to have increased from VND 30,000 per kg during last week to VND 32,500 the week before. In Lampung, the market was unchanged and prices were reported stable.

White Pepper

There was some request in Bangka to meet immediate commitments and price at local market moved up by four per cent last week compared to the week before. F.o.b price was stable at $3,570 a tonne. In Sarawak, local prices increased marginally, while f.o.b prices were reported stable. In Hainan, prices were stable during last week. Compared to the week before, however, there was a slight improvement.

Exports up

Pepper exports from India in 2006 increased by 56 per cent from that of 2005. Total shipments during 2006 from the country are estimated at 24,675 tonne compared to 15,800 tonne in 2005.

During December 2006, India exported around 3,100 tonne of pepper worth Rs 37.20 crore as against 1,700 tonne valued at Rs15 crore in December 2005.

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