The Hindu Business Line : Bears continue to hammer pepper

Kochi, Nov. 22 Pepper futures market continued its fall on bears activities coupled with the latest changes brought in by exchanges on the tolerance levels on delivery.

Indian parity fell to $3,650 a tonne (c&f). “We are still marginally out-priced”, market sources told Business Line. Indonesia was offering L Asta at $3,450 a tonne (c&f) while Brazil at $3,350 a tonne (f.o.b.), they said. Vietnam remained unchanged.

They said the sharp fall could be attributed to the unilateral decisions taken by the exchanges, which are harming the trade.

The low prices of other origins have facilitated imports from these countries by Indian buyers. According to an overseas report, 1,000 tonnes of Brazilian pepper would be landing in India in the next three months. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said 2,000 tonnes of Indonesian and 500 tonnes of Vietnam pepper would also be arriving at the Indian ports.

CONTRACT POSITION

December contract on NCDEX dropped by Rs 394 a quintal on Thursday to Rs 13,142. The fall in other contracts was from Rs 364 to Rs 417 a quintal. On NMCE, December contract fell by Rs 417 a quintal to Rs 13,095. The drop in other contracts was from Rs 422 to Rs 480 a quintal.

The total turnover on NCDEX moved up by 1,818 tonnes to 15,361 tonnes, while that for December dropped by 31 per cent. January turnover moved up by 62 per cent.

On NMCE, total turn over went up by 357 tonnes to 1,766 tonnes. Total open interest on NCDEX fell by 633 tonnes to 19,999 tonnes. December position dropped by 42 per cent.

On NMCE, total open interest declined by 111 tonnes to 1,774 tonnes. Spot prices also continued to fall with the prices dropping by Rs 200 a quintal in tandem with the futures market to Rs 12,700 (un-garbled) and Rs 13,300 (MG 1).