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Pepper futures on Monday moved up marginally on buying support and bullish sentiments. Good additional buying of March was seen. The market, as usual, remained highly volatile. It opened on a weak note, moved up and down and eventually closed marginally above Saturday's close.
Leading exporters were showing interest in covering new good quality pepper at Rs 215-216 a kg.
High moisture new pepper mixed with old pepper traded at Rs 203-206 a kg. Jharkhand- and Bihar-based dealers were reportedly buying it.
Steady arrivals
Meanwhile, one to two tonnes of new pepper have been arriving almost daily at major cities in North India by rail, directly from the primary markets of Kasargode in northern Kerala and Nagarcoil in Kannyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, market sources told Business Line .
Slack Domestic demand
Domestic demand, however, was slow as the buyers were covering for only the minimum requirement because of the high prices. As they have not been maintaining any inventory and this being the ideal time for the grinding industry to buy, the buyers may be entering the market eventually, some of the traders felt.
Meanwhile, multinational companies with multi-origin operations were reportedly taking forward positions too. February contract increased by Rs 92 to close at Rs 22,400 a quintal. March went up by Rs 84 to close at Rs 22,775 a quintal, while April declined by Rs 32 to close at Rs 23,098 a quintal.
Higher turnover
The total turnover increased by 2,118 tonnes to 7,250 tonnes. Total open interest went up by 285 tonnes to close at 11,392 tonnes, indicating additional purchases.
February open interest declined by 29 tonnes to 8,638 tonnes while that of March increased by 279 tonnes to 2,161 tonnes indicating additional purchases. April moved up by 17 tonnes to 439 tonnes.
Spot gains
Spot prices moved up by Rs 100 on buying support and in tandem with the futures market trend to close at Rs 21,300 (un-garbled) and Rs 22,100 (MG 1) a quintal.
Indian parity in the international market was at $5,125-5,150 a tonne (c&f) and remained competitive.
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