The Hindu Business Line : Bears pull down pepper market

Kochi, Jan. 25 Pepper futures market witnessed sharp decline on bearish activities on Friday at a time when the prices in other origins were almost on par with that of India.

Big exporters and processors who had sold to investors were buying spot, but there was no selling pressure. Besides, most of the warehouses are full because of heavy buying by investors following the crash in the share markets.

Arrivals have not improved so far. The average arrivals during the week were only 75 tonnes, where as it used to be 250–300 tonnes a week this time in the previous years, market sources told Business Line.

Brazil was offering B Asta at $3,600 a tonne (f.o.b.) while Indonesia has quoted L Asta at $3,850-3,900 a tonne (f.o.b.). Indian parity is at $3,950 a tonne (c&f). Since Brazil turned out to be the cheapest source all the buyers are now turning towards it. What ever available there will dry up soon, they said.

CONTRACT POSITION

February contract on NCDEX fell by Rs 219 a quintal on Friday and closed at Rs 14,480. The fall in other contracts was from Rs 265 to Rs 426 a quintal.

On NMCE, February contract dropped by Rs 250 a quintal to Rs 14,351. The drop in other contracts was from Rs 158 to Rs 309 a quintal.

Total turnover on NCDEX moved up by 2,868 tonnes to 12,489 tonnes, while that of NMCE moved up by 173 tonnes to 1,279 tonnes.

Total open interest on NCDEX went up by 172 tonnes to 23,048 tonnes. The February position dropped by 21 per cent, while that for March moved up by 61 per cent.

On NMCE, the total open interest declined by 32 tonnes to 1,724 tonnes.

Spot prices ruled steady at previous level of Rs 13,700 (un-garbled) and Rs 14,300 (MG 1) a quintal on Friday.