Pepper futures, spot continue to gain ground

Pepper market on Wednesday moved up after remaining highly volatile on buying support and bullish sentiments.

“It was highly volatile in the opening and closing sessions, showing the muscle power of operators, and hit the highest and lowest prices of the day in the closing session and ended above the previous day's closing,” a market source told Business Line .

Activities were limited. Expert processors from Wayanad were buying farm-grade pepper and selling October delivery. Investors were buying exchange delivered MG-1 at Rs 2 to Rs 3 below the September delivery price and selling October.

Domestic market was silent as the upcountry markets were catered to by Karnataka pepper delivered at Rs 295-Rs 297 a kg delivered anywhere in India, sources claimed. Despite Karnataka levying 1.5 per cent higher taxes on pepper in inter-state trade than Kerala, sources said, the material is available cheaper.

September contract on NCDEX moved up by Rs 151 to close at Rs 33,076 a quintal. October and November went up by Rs 125 and Rs 128 respectively to close at Rs 33,499 and Rs 33,748 a quintal.

Turnover dropped by 799 tonnes to 9,535 tonnes. Open interest declined by 87 tonnes to 11,857 tonnes.

September open interest dropped by 139 tonnes to 9,022 tonnes while October and November moved up by 39 tonnes and 4 tonnes respectively to close at 2,492 tonnes and 128 tonnes.

Spot prices gained on good buying support amid limited supply by Rs 100 to close at the highest-ever price of Rs 30,100 (ungargled) and Rs 31,100 (MG-1) a quintal.

Indian parity in the international market was at $7,400 a tonne (c&f) and was on a par with other origins. Brazil was slightly cheaper. Clarity would emerge in the first week of September when Indonesia returns actively to the market, they added.

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