Pepper Futures Mkt Increases

Kochi: The pepper futures market increased on April 9, breaking the circuit level and reported continuous increase in Vietnam prices. Given this upward trend, speculators were pushing up the prices in the futures market. Spot rates also increased by Rs 600 a quintal despite a slow down in the domestic buying because of the rise in prices. Vietnam prices for 550 GL on April 9, said to have crossed to Rs 3,000 a tonne (fob). April contract on NCDEX shot up to Rs 16,135 a quintal on April 9, from last weekend close of Rs 15,223. The rise in other contracts was from Rs 935 to Rs 1,002 a quintal.
On NMCE, April contract increased to Rs 15,300 a quintal from Rs 14,552. The increase in other contracts was from Rs 902 to Rs 963 a quintal. The total turnover on NCDEX increased by 34,053 tonnes to 78,149 tonnes, while on NMCE it increased by 5,857 tonnes to 13,537 tonnes. The total open interest on NCDEX increased by 737 tonnes to 32,441 tonnes. However, April position decreased by 364 tonnes to 3,438 tonnes. May and June positions went up by 187 tonnes and 244 tonnes, respectively, to 15,639 and 9,329 tonnes. The spot rates in tandem with the upward swing in futures market shot up by Rs 600 a quintal on Monday to close at Rs14,500 (un-garbled) and 15,100 (MG 1).