The Hindu Business Line : Fall in pepper futures prices

Kochi, July 22 Pepper futures market last week witnessed wild fluctuations and closed on Saturday far below the previous weekend closing prices and remained competitive in the international market.

July contract on NCDEX matured on Saturday and 965 tonnes of pepper was delivered.

The decline on NCDEX was from Rs 151 to Rs 289 a quintal while on NMCE, it was from Rs 14 to Rs 123 a quintal.

Total turn over on NCDEX fell by 24,647 tonnes to 1,14,673 tonnes while on NMCE, it dropped by 862 tonnes to 7,891 tonnes.

The open interest July and Aug fell by 1,300 tonnes and 4,556 tonnes respectively on NCDEX. However, total open interest increased by 644 tonnes to 24,972 tonnes. On NMCE, total open interest at weekend closing was at 2.421 tonnes.

Spot prices ruled steady at previous weekend closing of Rs 14,000 (un-garbled) and Rs 14,600 (MG 1) a quintal.

In the international market, buyers were quiet while all the other origins ruled steady at higher levels. Indonesia was steady to firm but there were no offers. Brazil where harvesting has commenced in a small way in certain areas said to be showing some selling interest for Aug/Sep. Vietnam was offering 500 GL at $3,450-3,500 a tonne (f.o.b.) while 550 GL at $3,600-3,650 a tonne (f.o.b.).

Resellers were reportedly offering long positions at above $4,000-4,200 a tonne (c&f). Steady prices at higher levels in the international market signals that there is a tight supply position, market sources here claimed.

According to the International Pepper Community (IPC), black pepper markets continued to be mixed last week. In India, though prices were up, trading, however, was slow. Spot prices of garbled black pepper increased from Rs 14,721 a quintal at beginning of the week to Rs 14,926 on July 19. On an average, prices at Kochi increased, by 1-2 per cent from the previous week.

In Vietnam, prices were also reported to be on the uptrend. At Daklak, prices for raw material increased by VND 1,000 to VND 52,000 a kg this week. In Sarawak, local prices dropped to MYR 9,774 a tonne from MYR 9,800 at beginning of the week. On an average, local prices of Sarawak black eased marginally by one per cent, while f.o.b. price was stable at $4,100 a tonne. In Lampung, average local prices increased further to around IDR32,000 a kg and in Sri Lanka, the price eased from SLRs 352 a kg to SLRs 340 this week.