Farm-gate sales at terminal market rates by certain dealers has held pepper prices steady at Kochi on Friday with an arrival and offtake of 13 tonnes.

The market realised an average price of ₹309 per kg for ungarbled varieties, while the prices of MG1 garbled stood at ₹329. New pepper was quoted at ₹299.

According to Kishore Shamji of Kishor Spices, farmers are hesitant to sell their produce at the current lower prices despite the active covering of available quantity by buyers in the primary market at the farm gate itself. The Tamil Nadu based dealers and processors are also active in trade from Gudalur and Erode primary markets.

There were also reports that some of the inter-State dealers in Kerala have started shifting their base to Tamil Nadu due to the availability of cheap labour and advantage of lower freight rates, compared with Kerala-based terminal markets, Shamji said.

It is reported that the inter-State processing of pepper is now getting concentrated in Tamil Nadu because of government incentives such as GST exemption and subsidies, Shamji said, adding that Karnataka-based traders who have to pay APMC cess are also following suit.

Meanwhile, the domestic demand continued to be on low key due to the availability of smuggled Vietnam pepper. Most of such transactions are carried out evading GST, which is a big threat to pepper farmers, growers and producers as well as trading community in the growing regions of Kerala, Karnataka and Kerala.

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