Pepper Futures Likely To Gain In Sept

Kochi: Though pepper futures increase on Aug 18, overall the prices witnessed a decline last week for all the contracts. The outstanding position on NCDEX for August stood at 2,313 tonnes and the contract would mature on Aug 20. September and October positions would have around 20,000 tonnes of which 11,242 tonnes are of September. Lower Indian parity coupled with weak rupee against dollar at the weekend has kept the Indian pepper competitive at $3,450 a tonne (c&f) even after the fell in other origins. In the international market, though harvesting has began in Indonesia and Brazil, the availability in the world market is estimated to remain below the demand.

During the week all the contracts on NCDEX decline and the fall was from Rs 23 to Rs 252 a quintal. On NMCE, the fall was from Rs 158 to Rs 322 a quintal. The total turnover on NCDEX declined by 35,582 tonnes to 1,09,696 tonnes, while on NMCE it dropped by 2,024 tonnes to 7,581 tonnes. The total open interest on NCDEX declined by 300 tonnes to 24,888 tonnes, while on NMCE it increased by 107 tonnes to 2,004 tonnes.