The Hindu Business Line : Pepper futures decline marginally on slow buying

There was good domestic demand. However, the buyers slowed down anticipating there would be good arrivals from the Coorg region and that would bring down the prices.

Some good quantity of pepper (MG 1) was traded on NCDEX and NMCE for delivery next week at Rs 12,700 and Rs 12,300 a quintal respectively.

About 55 tonnes of spot pepper were said to have been bought by domestic suppliers, exporters and investors.

Arrivals at the terminal market continued to be very thin as large quantity of pepper from the primary markets was being transported by operators evading tax to any where in India at the terminal market prices, market sources alleged.

On NCDEX, February contract declined by Rs 23 a quintal to close at Rs 12,552 a quintal on Friday from Rs 12,575 on Thursday. All other contracts, except May, declined by Rs 2 to Rs 30 while May moved up by Rs 29 a quintal.

On NMCE, February contract was up by Rs 50 a quintal to close at Rs 12,250 from Rs 12,200. All other contracts dropped by Rs 45 to Rs 97 a quintal.

Fall in turnover

The total turnover on NCDEX showed a decline of 1,050 tonnes on Friday to 18,611 tonnes from 19,661 tonnes on Thursday. The drop on Thursday was 35 per cent from the turnover of Wednesday, market sources said. The continuous downward trend in turnover despite the market being volatile indicates that the people are keeping away from the futures market, they said.

The turnover on NMCE dropped by 316 tonnes to 3,045 tonnes on Friday.

The total open interest on NCDEX moved up by 151 tonnes to 27,140 tonnes while that of February fell by 338 tonnes to 3,342 tonnes. March moved up by 153 tonnes to 14,684 tonnes.

Open interest up

On NMCE, total open interest was up by 65 tonnes to 4,987 tonnes of which 4,242 tonnes was of March.

In the international market, the prices ruled steady at all other origins at higher levels. Vietnam was offering 500 GL at $2,270 a tonne (fob). Vietnam market reportedly will remain closed till March in connection with Chinese New Year.

Lampong Asta was offered at $2,700 a tonne (fob) while Brazil was offering Asta at $2,875 - $2,950 (c&f). B1 and B2 were being offered at $2,750 a tonne (c&f) and $2,700 a tonne (c&f) respectively. The spot prices ruled steady at Rs 11,900 (un-garbled) and Rs 12,500 (MG 1) on Friday.