Pepper arrivals to the terminal market in Kochi has been impacted on Thursday, thanks to rising farm gate sales in the primary markets following a thriving pilgrim and tourist footfalls.

The arrivals was very limited at 9 tonnes and the rates remained steady with an average price realisation of Rs 330 per kg for un-garbled. The garbled varieties stood at Rs 350 per kg.

The rise in farm gate sales has pushed retail price to a whopping Rs 450-500 per kg with a reported sale of around 7 to 12 tonnes per day in Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta. Even there were such sales in Wayanad from tourists and pilgrims coming from Karnataka, said Kishore Shamji of Kishor Spices.

If farmers are getting a good price at their farm itself, there is no point in bringing the commodity to the terminal market by incurring additional transportation cost, he said. Many of the buyers who have postponed their buying as well as suppliers who have committed anticipating a price drop are now in a difficult situation, he said.

Besides, the cold wave conditions in North India has also slowed down pepper demand in many of the upcountry markets which was also a contributing factor for the prices to remain steady.

Moreover, pepper farmers have expected an announcement from the government on fresh rates for MEIS (Merchandise Export Incentive Scheme) which was stopped from December 31. As far as pepper is concerned, such incentives have to be extended to farmers, who focus mainly on Indian origin pepper shipments, which, in turn, would boost exports from the country. Though the quantities are small, he said that the drains from the exchequer would be very minimal. Such incentive schemes would definitely assist pepper farmers who really need a support at this juncture especially at the time of lower yield, high cost of production and onslaught of imports.

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