Pepper market continued its fall on Friday on liquidation and switching over and on bearish reports from Vietnam.

Vietnam, which is said to have some FAQ 500 and 550 GL pepper stock, has reduced their prices to $6,950 and $7,300 a tonne and the European market down by the Euro crisis is the buyer, market sources told Business Line . Europe was said to be the buyers now for FAQ material, they said.

Bear operators were in the driving seat and they were pulling the market down probably for their overseas clients. However, there were no sellers at the current levels. Because of the “good badla” investors were switching over from November to December, they said.

On the spot also not much activity was reported as the farmers and primary market dealers stayed away. Buyers moved away hoping the prices would fall further.

Nov contract on the NCDEX fell by Rs 580 to close at Rs 33,080 a quintal. Dec and Jan dropped by Rs 535 and Rs 340, respectively, to close at Rs 33,720 and Rs 34,300 a quintal.

Total turnover dropped by 1,233 tonnes to 5,309 tonnes. Total open interest decreased by 134 tonnes to 11,382 tonnes.

Nov open interest fell by 644 tonnes to 6,991 tonnes, while that of Dec and Jan increased by 493 tonnes and 3 tonnes, respectively, to close at 3,930 tonnes and 313 tonnes.

Spot prices in tandem with the futures market trend fell by Rs 200 to close at Rs 32,500 (ungarbled) and Rs 34,000 (MG 1) a quintal.

Continuous fall in the futures market on the bearish activities made the Indian asta grade pepper the cheapest in world at $7,300 a tonne (c&f) for Europe and $7,700 a tonne (c&f) for the US.

Vietnam Asta was being quoted at $8,100 a tonne, while Lasta was at $8,150-$8,250 a tonne. Brazil was also above us at $7,700 a tonne (f.o.b.), they said.

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