The Hindu Business Line : Pepper futures soar on surge in Vietnam prices

Other origins are also said to be moving in tandem with the trend in Vietnam. Exporters who are having time bound commitments and cannot afford to default are covering whatever arrives now in the market. They are reportedly finding it difficult to cover their requirement.

Meanwhile, those who were waiting for cheaper Vietnam pepper are in for a bad time, market observers here told Business Line. Vietnam prices said to have gone up by $100 a tonne.

Institutional investors here were buying ready pepper (garbled) and selling futures, while the processors were buying un-garbled.

On NCDEX, May contract shot up by Rs 465 a quintal to Rs 16,300. The increase in other contracts was from Rs 458 to Rs 561 a quintal.

On NMCE, May contract went up by Rs 532 a quintal to Rs 15,460 from Rs 14,928. The rise in other contracts was from Rs 437 to Rs 658 a quintal.

Turnover up

The total turnover shot up by 30,874 tonne on NCDEX to 48,628 tonnes on Monday, while on NMCE it increased by 1,671 tonnes to 3,874 tonnes.

The total open interest on NCDEX declined by 549 tonnes to 31,117 tonnes. May position dropped by 1,745 tonnes to 13,994 tonnes, while June moved up by 1,075 tonnes to 11,795 tonnes.

On NMCE, total open interest moved up by 22 tonnes to 4,137 tonnes. May position declined by 32 tonnes to 2,363 tonnes.

Spot prices

Domestic demand continued to rule low. Buying support from processors and in tandem with the futures market trend spot prices also shot up by Rs 300 a quintal on Monday to close at Rs 14,700 (un-garbled) and Rs 15,300 (MG 1). Traders here anticipate that the prices would cross Rs 175 a kg.