Pepper futures on Tuesday was pushed up significantly by operators and that in turn influenced the spot market also.

Consequently, all contracts increased substantially.

Investors were ready to buy MG 1 exchange-delivered pepper at Rs 3 below the July price. “Surprisingly, there was neither any domestic nor any export demand, and the demand was on the exchange platform only,” trade sources told Business Line .

The market is in the hands of the operators who had taken delivery of huge quantity of pepper of May and June delivery (estimated at around 4,700 tonnes) . They, in fact, mopped up significant volume of the material to create squeeze in the market, in a bid to push up the prices, they claimed.

There was some buying interest on the spot market and some scattered trading took place at Rs 275-280 a kg. This has also activated the already firmer futures market, they said.

But, the material available, they alleged, was either mixed with Coorg pepper or with imported Vietnam pepper which has slipped into the domestic market, as it is difficult to distinguish Vietnam material once it is mixed with the Wayanad pepper, they claimed.

July contract on the NCDEX soared by Rs 503 to close at Rs 29,600 a quintal. August and September shot up by Rs 495 and Rs 512, respectively, to close at Rs 29,562 and Rs 29,608 a quintal.

Total turn over

Total turn over increased by 3,412 tonnes to 8,861 tonnes. Total open interest moved up by 178 tonnes showing additional purchases to close at 9,424 tonnes.

July open interest moved up by 60 tonnes to 7,643 tonnes, while that of August and September was up by 112 tonnes and 7 tonnes, respectively, to 1,425 tonnes and 151 tonnes.

Spot prices in tandem with the futures market trend and on some buying interest moved up by Rs 300 to close at Rs 27,500 (ungarbled) and Rs 28,300 (MG 1) a quintal.

International markets

Indian parity in the international market was at $6,850 a tonne (c&f) for USA and $6,750 a tonne (c&f) for Europe and remained nearly competitive as Indonesia has raised its price to $6,750 a tonne (c&f). Treated Indian pepper is priced at $6,950 a tonne (c&f), the trade said. Overseas market was said to be showing upward trend, they said.