Pepper market world over appeared to be sluggish during the week as buyers were quietly waiting for the new Vietnamese crop to enter the market in a big way and the prices to drop. It may not, however, take much time now to know as to how far the long wait would turn out to be fruitful. It will, of course, depend, on the actual crop situation and above all the Vietnamese growers' need for money and ability to hold back for a regulated release.

Meanwhile, if one goes by the arrival trend in India so far during the current season, it gives the impression that availability of new pepper in the country is going to be thin as growers having liquidated their old stocks at good prices in recent weeks are now holding back their harvest.

In the southern districts of Kerala arrivals at the primary markets were very thin, trade sources told Business Line . All the contracts on the NCDEX during the week fell sharply. March, April and May contracts dropped by Rs 822, Rs 816 and Rs 968 respectively to Rs 22,713, Rs 22,919 and Rs 23,123 a quintal.

Total turn over fell by 17,323 tonnes to 52,774 tonnes while the total open interest went up by 390 tonnes to 12,248 tonnes indicating additional buying. Spot prices during the week dropped by Rs 400 to close at the weekend at Rs 22,000 (un-garbled) and Rs 22,800 (MG 1) a quintal.

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