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Limited offtake by end-users and improved arrivals hammered pepper prices down by ₹8 a kg in Kochi last week.
The market was also down by ₹1 on Monday on the arrival of 72 tonnes and the average price realised was ₹309 for ungarbled varieties. MG1 garbled variety was quoted at ₹329, while new pepper stood at ₹299.
According to Kishore Shamji of Kishor Spices, pepper from Coorg and Wayanad with moderate demand from end-users was sold. Dealers from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were not buying because of riots in the capital city.
However, cold conditions in northern India is keeping demand stable. Consumption in the domestic market has gone up to 5,000-6,000 tonnes a month, which could be met by domestic production, he said.
Shamji said imports from Sri Lanka have come down to 69 tonnes in January. February figures are yet to be known. However, traders voiced concern over the reported move by Sri Lanka and Vietnam to impress upon Indian government to withdraw the minimum import price imposed on pepper, which would enable these countries to dump their produce in the domestic market.
Though arrivals from Karnataka and Wayanad have picked up, traders said availability of Karnataka pepper was limited with good buying interest for pepper with bulk density above 550gm per litre.
A section of the trade speculates that the market is likely to drop to ₹250 per kg in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on higher production, Shamji said.
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