Bearish reports from overseas claiming that Vietnam has brought down its prices from $6,700 to $6,150 a tonne, and that it has production of over 2 lakh tonnes, have pulled down domestic pepper prices drastically. Spot prices fell ₹1,400 a quintal in four days, market sources told BusinessLine .
Because of the huge margin, imports of cheap pepper from various regions are also taking place, they said.
Consequently, the spot and futures contracts on the single commodity exchange, IPSTA and the national exchange showed a sharp decline, they added. On the terminal market, 18 tonnes of pepper were traded at ₹650-665 a kg.
Meanwhile, tender green pepper is being plucked and traded at ₹180 a kg in some parts of Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Kollam districts of Kerala and it was bought by the industry for making pepper in brine, the sources said. Spot pepper prices fell further by ₹400 a quintal to close at ₹66,500 (ungarbled) and ₹69,500 (garbled) a quintal.
November and December contracts on the IPSTA also decreased ₹1,000 each a quintal to close at ₹69,000 and ₹63,000 while January remained unchanged at ₹57,000 a quintal.
On the NMCE, December and January contracts declined by ₹1,050 and ₹186 a quintal to close at ₹66,100 and ₹65,639 a quintal.
Indian export prices were at $10,700 a tonne cf for Europe and $10,950 a tonne cf for the US.