Pepper market on Friday ruled nearly steady with marginal rise and decline in nearby deliveries on liquidation and switching and limited activities.

Market was active as Speculative long position holders liquidated and switched over to September.

Limited activities were aimed at reducing the ‘badla' while short position holders were said to be trying to increase the ‘badla'. So there was a tug of war between the two groups, trade sources told Business Line .

Availability of pepper on the spot market continued to remain limited and hence exporters were mainly depending on the exchange platform.

On the other hand those who are ready to sell farm grade pepper were quoting Rs 283-285 a kg.

But, buyers were offering Rs 280-281 a kg citing high moisture content, they said. Sellers were hence not interested to sell.

Next week onwards domestic demand from both consumers and industry is expected for the ensuing festival season.

However, the current upcountry demand is met by Karnataka which is catering at Rs 282-283 delivered anywhere in India, they said.

August contract on the NCDEX declined by Rs 74 to close at Rs 29,557 a quintal.

September and October moved up slightly by Rs 14 and Rs 40 respectively a quintal to close at Rs 30,149 and Rs 30,550 a quintal.

Turnover gains

Total turn over increased by 720 tonnes to 8,770 tonnes. Total open interest declined by 34 tonnes to 11,259 tonnes.

August open interest fell by 1,343 tonnes to 1,915 tonnes showing good liquidation while September rose by 1,272 tonnes 7,591 tonnes indicating heavy switching over. October moved up by 37 tonnes to 1,518 tonnes.

Spot prices remained steady on limited activities at previous levels of Rs 28,100 (ungarbled) and Rs 29,100 (MG 1) a quintal.

Indian parity in the international market was at $6,800 a tonne (c&f) for Europe and $6,900 a tonne (c&f) for the US.

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