Pepper prices dropped on bearish propaganda and liquidation on Thursday. All active contracts declined. June contracts opened and touched a high of Rs 39,740 a quintal at noon.

Then it fell by Rs 1,170 and closed even lower. July contracts also saw volatile trade. The turn indicated sings of circular trading.

June and July contracts ended up in ulta badla today. Long position holders in June sold their contracts and switched over to July contracts at a discount.

It was attractive to long position holders.

International bearish reports on Sri Lanka exporting pepper to India and Indonesia at lower rates was taken as a tool by bear operators to push the market down. Traders quoting regular shippers from Sri Lanka said they would be selling to West Asia and Egyptian markets at $6,200-6,300 a tonne rather than to India.

They said 500 GL Sri Lankan pepper when imported at $6,000 would come to Rs 350 a kg and that would also have 13-14 per cent moisture.

June contract on NCDEX dropped by Rs 725 a quintal to the last traded price (LTP) of Rs 38,820 a quintal. July and Aug fell by Rs 1,075 and Rs 1,180 respectively to the LTP of Rs 38,700 and Rs 38,950 a quintal.

Turnover

Total turnover increased by 1,528 tonnes to 6,297 tonnes. Total open interest declined by 127 tonnes to 6,153 tonnes.

Thin open interest as against high turn over is a matter of concern, they said. June open interest dropped by 659 tonnes to 2,984 tonnes showing heavy liquidation. July and August increased by 360 tonnes and 170 tonnes respectively to 2,762 tonnes and 392 tonnes indicating good switching over.

Spot prices

Spot prices in tandem with the futures market trend fell by Rs 400 to close at Rs37,200 (ungarbled) and Rs38,700 (MG 1) a quintal.

Indian parity in the international market was at $7,200 a tonne (c&f) for Europe and $7,500 a tonne (C&f) for the US.

Indonesia was reportedly offering at $6,950 a tonne (fob) for US. Vietnam was offering at $7,000 a tonne (fob).

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