The pepper market on Wednesday slipped on bearish overseas reports despite limited activities. All the active contracts dropped from the previous closing.

There was liquidation in April by those who don't prefer to take delivery while there was some switching over. Those who were holding short positions on the exchange platform and those having export commitments in April, May and June were making concerted efforts to push the market down, market sources told Business Line .

Market opened on a firm note and then moved down to go up sharply in the afternoon. Before closing, however, it fell and closed below the previous day's closing. There was no selling pressure on the spot and the arrivals from the primary market continued to remain very thin. Whatever material arrived at the primary markets was being picked up by interstate dealers from Tamil Nadu from the doorsteps of the dealers there at terminal market prices on cash and carry basis. Therefore, no physical pepper is available in the market, the sources said.

April contract on the NCDEX dropped by Rs 560 to the last traded price (LTP) of Rs 38,540 a quintal. May and June were down by Rs 620 and Rs 380 respectively to the LTP of Rs 39,350 and Rs 39,965 a quintal.

Turnover

Total turnover declined by 169 tonnes to 4,842 tonnes. Total open interest fell by 174 tonnes to 6,618 tonnes.

April open interest dropped by 225 tonnes to 2,692 tonnes while that of May and June moved up by 38 tonnes and 14 tonnes respectively to 3,513 tonnes and 297 tonnes.

Spot prices were down by Rs 400 a quintal in tandem with the futures market trend to close at Rs 37,100 (ungarbled) and Rs 38,600 (MG 1) a quintal.

Indian parity in the international market was down to $7,725 a tonne (c&f) for Europe are $8,025 a tonne (c&f) for the US and remained much above other origins. It would have been higher but for the weakening of the rupee against the dollar, they added.

Overseas trend

An overseas report today said the Indian market influences Vietnam. Even though it has corrected itself the Indian produce was much more expensive when compared with Vietnam.

Brazil has little quantities left to export and prices are also ruling much higher than from Vietnam. “So for pepper buyers Vietnam is going to be the best game in town for at least the foreseeable future. However, Vietnamese farmers and exporters are also aware of this”, the report said.

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