The Hindu Business Line : Pepper futures continue to rise

Kochi April 5 Reported tight supply position in Vietnam and further increase in prices pushed up Indian pepper futures market significantly on Thursday.

Meanwhile, bull cartels in India were also pushing up the prices supported by investors, market observers here told Business Line. Add to this, there was some buying interest from overseas at $3,300 a tonne (c&f).

Wait and Watch

In the international market, buyers continued to wait and watch the situation in Vietnam, where the arrivals have not picked up yet.

According to reports, it was offering 500 GL at $2,900 a tonne (f.o.b.) and 550 GL at $3,250 a tonne (f.o.b). Brazil is said to have offered Basta at $2,900 a tonne (f.o.b.) on Wednesday. Buyers in the world market seem to be in a dilemma given the uncertain situation in Vietnam, they said.

The Indian parity on Thursday stood at $3,650 on strong domestic demand and tight supply position.

April contract on NCDEX shot up by Rs 425 a quintal on Thursday to Rs 14,790. The increase in other contracts was from Rs 403 to Rs 458 a quintal.

April contract on NMCE moved up by Rs 544 a quintal to Rs 14,150. The rise in other contracts was from Rs 480 to Rs 588 tonne a quintal.

Turnover

The total turnover also shot up by 14,417 tonnes to 60,576 tonnes, while on NMCE it went up by 5,233 tonnes to 11,511 tonnes.

The total open interest on NCDEX dropped by 435 tonnes to 31,283 tonnes. April position fell by 723 tonnes to 4,341 tonnes while May and June went up by 36 tonnes and 80 tonnes respectively to 15,492 tonnes and 8,009 tonnes.

On NMCE, total open interest declined by 3 tonnes to 4,692 tonnes. April position was at 340 tonnes while May was down by 45 tonnes to 2,878 tonnes.

In tandem with the futures market trend spot prices also moved up by Rs 200 a quintal to close at Rs 13,500 (un-garbled) and Rs 14,100 (MG 1) on Thursday.