The Hindu Business Line : Downtrend continues in pepper futures

Indonesia has quoted L Asta $3,900 a tonne (f.o.b.), while Brazil was offering B Asta $3,750-3,800 a tonne (f.o.b.). Vietnam at $3,700 a tonne (f.o.b) last night. Vietnam market is closed on Thursday. Indian parity has gone up because of a strong rupee against dollar to $3,950 a tonne (f.o.b.).

Speculation

Investors were selling futures and buying exchange delivered. It was only changing hands and ending up in warehouses pushing up the stock levels. Instead, the goods should move out. This is not a healthy trend, they pointed out and added "the market is in the grip of manipulator groups".

The May contract on NCDEX declined by Rs 56 a quintal to Rs 15,651. The decline in other contracts except September ranged from Rs 43 to66 a quintal. September contract moved up by Rs 9 a quintal.

May contract on NMCE dropped by Rs 17 a quintal to Rs 14,980. June, July and October contracts moved up by Rs 20, Rs 127 and Rs 140 a quintal respectively, while other contracts remained unchanged.

Kodagu pepper lower

On NMCE, total open interest went up by 21 tonnes to 4,071 tonnes. May position was at 2,106 tonnes.

Internal demand was slow. Kodagu pepper was available at Rs 3-4 below the prices in Kerala and hence domestic demand was being met by supplies from there.

Spot prices dropped by Rs 100 a quintal on weak demand on Thursday to close at Rs 14,400 (un-garbled) and Rs 15,000 (MG 1).