The Hindu Business Line : Bear operators push down pepper futures

Those who have sales to industry and needs to cover are pushing the prices down. They anticipate that reduction in the Indian prices would influence the prices of other origins, market sources told Business Line.

Nearby deliveries traded below spot.

Speculators who covered earlier and wanted to liquidate now are not finding buyers.

July is going to face problem as maturity is nearing. May, June were covered and shipped out.

But since the introduction of quantitative restriction on nearby position, the exporters find it difficult to cover.

The material is not available on the spot also, they said.

Rumours are being spread that Vietnam has reduced its prices of 500 GL pepper.

But the prices of Asta grade in all other origins, including Vietnam, continued to rule high and hence, Indian pepper still remains competitive at $3,900-4,000 a tonne (c&f).

Indonesia was reportedly offering at $4,000-4,100 a tonne (f.o.b.).

Vietnam was offering this grade at $4,000 (f.o.b.) while Brazil at $3,900 (f.o.b.).

Overseas buyers are looking for distant position, which is at higher levels in India; hence, nobody wants to offer, they said.

CONTRTACTS POSITION

The July contract on the NCDEX fell by Rs 43 on Wednesday to Rs 14,400.

The decline in other positions excluding December and January was Rs 10-35 a quintal, while December and January moved up by Rs 3 and Rs 7 respectively.

On the NMCE, August dropped by Rs 36 a quintal to close at Rs 14,480.

The fall in other contracts was from Rs 3 to Rs 95 a quintal.

Turnover declines

The total turnover on the NCDEX dropped by 3,510 tonnes to 13,453 tonnes, while on the NMCE it declined by 697 tonnes to 988 tonnes.

Open interest up

The total open interest on the NCDEX moved up by 153 tonnes to 24,786 tonnes, while July and August positions dropped by 180 tonnes and 444 tonnes respectively.

September increased by 530 tonnes to 6,675 tonnes.

On the NMCE, total open interest moved up by 43 tonnes to 2,378 tonnes.

The August position declined by seven tonnes to 1,562 tonnes.

Spot prices steady

Spot prices ruled steady at the previous levels of Rs 13,900 (un-garbled) and Rs 14,500 (MG 1) a quintal on Wednesday.