The Hindu Business Line : Pepper prices up on buying support

Stiff competition
The productivity in Kerala is a meagre 350 grams per vine as against 1.5 Kg in Karnataka.
Kerala's share, which used to be over 90 pc of the country's total annual pepper output, has declined to around 65 pc.

Kochi , Jan. 2

Pepper prices, both spot and futures, have moved up steeply during the past eight days on good buying support from exporters.

All the futures contracts except January and February, which fell marginally by Rs 32 and Rs 2, respectively, moved up by Rs 39 to Rs 122 a quintal on Tuesday on NCDEX. On NMCE, January contracts slipped by Rs 6 a quintal, while the increase in other positions was from Rs 58 to Rs 360.

January open interest on NCDEX fell by 12.5 per cent, while February and March moved up by 11.5 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.

Spot prices up

With the increase of Rs 100 a quintal on Tuesday, spot prices have shot up by Rs 1,100 a quintal from December 23 closing, as the exporters and multinational companies based in Europe and the US having operations in Vietnam and India bought around 2,000 tonnes of the black gold from the exchanges.

They are said to have taken delivery at the December cutting price ranging between Rs 88 to Rs 95 a kg. Some have covered from Marketfed, the Kerala State Procurement agency, 70 tonnes at Rs 95 a kg.

An MNC has bought 500 tonnes from the exchange for shipping out to Vietnam, while another covered 400 tonnes. Indian exporters are understood to have bought around 1,000 tonnes of pepper.

Competitive prices

The international markets are yet to be active after the long holidays. However, Vietnam has quoted $2,600 a tonne (f.o.b), while Brazil at $2,300 a tonne (f.o.b).

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