Pepper market witnessed the tug of war between both the bull and bear operators last week and it was evident from the ups and down in the prices. Earlier in the week the market moved up substantially and then fell after mid week.

All the active contracts ended marginally down from the previous weekend close. Availability of physical pepper continued to be tight.

Quality material is said to be limited. For the industry buyers who were waiting for the prices to decline on the arrival of the new crop, their expectations turned out to be futile as neither the arrivals picked up nor the prices came down.

The pipeline in the major upcountry markets such as Jaipur, Nagpur, Gwalior, Delhi, Indore, etc., is said to be empty.

Meanwhile, the stock position of pepper at the NCDEX accredited warehouses as on May 21 was at 1,431 tonnes in Kochi and 41 tonnes in Kozhikode. Of this validity of 441 tonnes in Kochi and 11 tonnes in Kozhikode will expire on June 5 leaving a balance of nearly 1,000 tonnes.

Possibility of fresh deposits is appears to be uncertain. All these factors were taken as a weapon by the bull operators to push the market up.

All the active contracts last weekend ended in a marginal decline. June, July and August contracts decreased by Rs 80, Rs 345 and Rs 20 respectively to the last traded price (LTP) of Rs 39,750, Rs 40,210 and Rs 40,850 a quintal.

Total turn over increased by 12,413 tonnes to close at 27,646 tonnes. Total open interest went up by 1,020 tonnes to 5,922 tonnes.

Spot prices moved up by Rs 200 a quintal during the week to Rs 37,800 (ungarbled) and Rs 39,300 (MG 1) a quintal at Saturday close.

“Rumours were said to be spreading in the North Indian markets that Sri Lanka has a bumper crop this year and hence pepper from the Island neighbour would come to Indian market soon”.

But, sharp fall in the value of the rupee against the dollar may turn out to be a major hurdle making the imports costlier, according to the the trade.

However, availability continued to remain limited. There was thin selling pressure in recent days in different regions due to money requirement for the school reopening expenses coupled with the buying interest shown by importers at high prices for high bulk density high range pepper.

But selling was not at the normal levels which used to be some 50 to 60 tonnes during the school re-opening period i.e., from May 15 – June 15. But this year, it was in the range of 15 to 20 tonnes.

“It shows that the farmers are not holding much material”, primary market dealers in Idukki said.

All the other origins which follow strictly the Indian futures market were reportedly showing steady to firm trend last week. A true picture of availability in the world still remains unpredictable as all the conflicting reports are appear to be mere guestimates.

Indian parity in the international market was at $7,400 a tonne (c&f) while other origins were reportedly quoting $7,100 (Indonesia), $6,900-7,000 a tonne (Vietnam) and $7,000 a tonne (Brazil).

The trade here claimed that Malabar is acceptable at a premium of $200-300 a tonne.

Meanwhile an overseas report said “more and more buyers are now looking for nearby and later shipments, which proves that generally the market is widely uncovered”.

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