Pepper Future Witnesses Declining Trend

Kochi: The pepper futures market continued its falling trend on bearish operations on July 18. Speculators who covered earlier and wanted to liquidate now are not finding buyers. Rumours are being spread that Vietnam has reduced its prices of 500 GL pepper. But the prices of Asta grade in all other origins, including Vietnam, continued to rule high and hence, Indian pepper still remains competitive at $3,900-4,000 a tonne (c&f). Indonesia was reportedly offering at $4,000-4,100 a tonne (f.o.b.). Vietnam was offering this grade at $4,000 (f.o.b.) while Brazil at $3,900 (f.o.b.). Overseas purchasers are looking for distant position, which is at higher levels in India; hence, nobody wants to offer. The July contract on the NCDEX fell by Rs 43 on July 18 to Rs 14,400.
The fall in other positions excluding December and January was Rs 10-35 a quintal, while December and January moved up by Rs 3 and Rs 7 respectively. On the NMCE, August dropped by Rs 36 a quintal to close at Rs 14,480. The total turnover on the NCDEX fell by 3,510 tonnes to 13,453 tonnes, while on the NMCE it declined by 697 tonnes to 988 tonnes. The total open interest on the NCDEX fell by 153 tonnes to 24,786 tonnes, while July and August positions dropped by 180 tonnes and 444 tonnes respectively.