The pepper market continued its upward swing on Tuesday on good buying interest, amid limited supply coupled with bullish sentiments.

Reported squeeze in availability at a time when those having commitments were trying to cover, has aided the prices to move up despite a negative trend in the total open interest. Activities were limited today as is evident from the turn over which has dropped.

Fundamentally, the material is not available and what is available at present is only on the exchange platform, market sources told Business Line .

As of today, the stocks held on the exchange platform are at 1,905 tonnes and of this 456 tonnes will come up for delivery on May 5, while 619 tonnes on June 5, 165 tonnes and 125 tonnes on July 5 and Sep 5, respectively.

On Oct 5, 499 tonnes will come up for delivery, they said. Those did not want to take delivery were liquidating while some were switching over. Those who are holding valid stocks were switching over as the ‘badla' has been good.

There was no selling pressure on the ready pepper market. Arrivals were negligible from the primary markets and the growers.

April contract on the NCDEX increased by Rs 765 to the last trading price (LTP) of Rs39,115 a quintal. May and June contracts were up by Rs590 and Rs1,035 respectively to the LTP of Rs39,900 and Rs40,400 a quintal.

Turnover

Total turnover dropped by 453 tonnes to close at 5,011 tonnes. Total open interest fell by 243 tonnes to 6,792 tonnes.

Apr open interest decreased by 297 tonnes to 2,917 tonnes while that of May and June moved up by 30 tonnes and 12 tonnes respectively to close at 3,475 tonnes and 283 tonnes.

Spot prices in tandem with the futures market trend coupled with buying interest amid tight supply situation increased by Rs500 to close at Rs 37,500 (ungarbled) and Rs 39,000 (MG 1) a quintal.

Indian parity in the international market was at around $7,900 a tonne (c&f) for Europe and $8,200 a tonne (c&f) for the US.

There is no exportable surplus and at the same time “why should we think of exporting when we can sell at $8,000 a tonne on the exchange here itself?” they asked.

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