The Hindu Business Line : Pepper futures continue downward trend

Vietnam was reportedly offering 500 GL at $3,475-$3,500 a tonne (fob). However, India does not have lower grade pepper and there is good domestic demand for MG 1 at higher rates, market observers told Business Line.

They said that there were buyers for NCDEX delivered pepper at Rs 15,300-Rs 15,375 a quintal on Thursday and 50 tonnes of it is said to have been traded. Besides, exporters and investors were showing interest to buy spot farm grade pepper at Rs 14,400-Rs 14,800 a quintal and about 125 tonnes were reportedly traded.

There was fresh buying at higher levels as the exporters were said to have been forced to buy spot as they are not able to get the material from the Exchanges because of the restrictions on the nearby position. Trading on Thursday was taking place at sellers’ price, they said.

Asta grade pepper at all other origins were firm at higher levels and hence the Indian produce is still very competitive.

Stock held by NCDEX and NMCE Exchanges is estimated at 14,000 tonnes.

Indian exports during January-May (2007 season) was at 10,700 tonnes as against 7,800 tonnes in the same period last year and 5,100 tonnes in 2005. Imports also increased to 5,975 tonnes during the first five months of 2007 through the Kochi port as against 5,300 tonnes in the corresponding period last year.

Futures position

July contract on NCDEX declined by Rs 92 a quintal on Thursday to close at Rs 15,035 from Rs 15,127 on Wednesday.

The drop in other contracts was from Rs 109 to Rs 145 a quintal.

On NMCE July contract fell by Rs 84 a quintal to close at Rs 14,650 from Rs 14,734. The decline in other contracts was from Rs 44 to Rs 87 a quintal.

Turnover up

The total turnover on NCDEX moved up by 1,664 tonnes to 14,358 tonnes while on NMCE it declined by 140 tonnes to 1,079 tonnes.

The total open interest on NCDEX moved up by 83 tonnes to 24,695 tonnes while July position declined by 85 tonnes to 3,739 tonnes.

August position went up by 123 tonnes to 15,049 tonnes while September moved up by 25 tonnes to 3,243 tonnes.

On NMCE, the total open interest increased by 90 tonnes to 2,745 tonnes while July dropped by 77 tonnes to 1,540 tonnes.

Spot prices

Spot prices continued to rule steady at previous levels, at Rs 14,200 (un-garbled) and Rs 14,800 (MG 1) a quintal on Thursday.