The pepper market on Tuesday dropped in technical correction after having gone up substantially the previous days. All the active contracts fell sharply on some selling pressure.

Some section of trade who wanted to fulfil their earlier commitments were also allegedly playing all the tricks to pull the market down, market sources told Business Line .

Some were, meanwhile, holding back hoping for a better ‘badla’ so that they could switch over to August.

Around 140 tonnes were marked for staggered delivery in July while an estimated 1,100 tonnes remain for staggered delivery, they said.

Expert processors were processing validity expired stocks for investors at competitive rates for depositing in the exchange.

There was good demand for spot pepper today and, therefore, some 70 tonnes of it were traded at Rs 397 a kg for the commodity from the plains, Rs 400 a kg for that from Wayanad and Rs 405 for the material from the high ranges depending upon quality and grade. Malabar garbled was traded at Rs 412 a kg.

July contract on the NCDEX fell by Rs 535 a quintal to the last traded price (LTP) of Rs 42,300; August and September contracts dropped by Rs 690 and Rs 650 respectively to the LTP of Rs 42,675 and Rs 43,130 a quintal.

Turnover

Total turnover fell by 1,198 tonnes to 3,782 tonnes. Total open interest decreased by 241 tonnes to 5,073 tonnes showing liquidation and some switching over.

July open interest fell by 308 tonnes to 1,076 tonnes while Aug and Sep moved up by 61 tonnes and 7 tonnes respectively to 3,780 tonnes and 184 tonnes.

Spot prices in tandem with the futures market trend dropped by Rs 300 to close at Rs 39,700 (ungarbled) and Rs 41,200 (MG 1) a quintal.

Indian parity in the international market was at $7,800 - $7,850 a tonne (c&f) for the Europe and $8,100-8,150 a tonne (c&f) for the US.

Overseas buyers who were hitherto depending on MG 1 are now said to have switched over to other origins following the sharp rise in the Indian parity, they said.

Overseas trend

According to an overseas report today the international markets are seen somewhat sluggish, even though there are indications that a “larger volume of pepper is still to be covered for Q3 and Q4”. Right now other origins,more or less in dollar per tonne (fob)are:Vietnam FAQ, 500 g/l:6,050; FAQ, 550 g/l: 6,400 ; V ASTA: 6,600;Brazil ASTA: 6,450;Brazil Gr1 min. 560 g/l: 6,350; and Lampong ASTA:6,400.

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