Pepper futures, after the usual tug of war of bull and bear operators, remained nearly steady with a marginal increase. Added to this was the holding up of movement of containers following a proposed strike call at Kochi port. There were additional buying. But activities were limited. There was no selling pressure on the spot. Sellers were limited. Exporters were worried over the proposed strike, trade sources alleged. All Private Labour Trade Unions have reportedly called for a total stoppage of operations at the Kochi Terminal from today midnight onwards, they said.

Alternative port

“In the meantime, we recommend customers to consider using alternative south India gateway port such as Tuticorin,” some of the operators said. In the overseas markets nobody is maintaining any inventory due to the high cost involved and hence all are buying time bound. Selected groups of buyers preferring Malabar wanted the shipments on time and if “we are unable to meet the delivery schedule, they might look for other origins which, in turn, would deprive us of their confidence,” market sources told Business Line .

On the spot, small quantities of new pepper was traded at Rs 203–205 a kg while good quality old pepper was traded, albeit small quantity, at Rs 215– 216 a kg, they said. February contract was up by Rs 28 to close at Rs 22,428 a quintal.

March and April moved up by Rs 15 and Rs 148 respectively to close at R s22,790 and Rs 23,151 a quintal. Total turnover dropped by 2,526 tonnes to 4,724 tonnes. Total open interest increased by 224 tonnes to 11,616 tonnes showing additional buying. February open interest went up by 30 tonnes to 8,668 tonnes while that of March and April moved up by 168 tonnes and 9 tonnes.

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