Pepper Futures Decline On Bearish Activities

Kochi: The pepper futures market on Friday dropped on bearish activities. Market manipulators and speculators were pushing it up and down, market sources told Business Line.

Indian pepper is out-priced at $3,800 a tonne (c&f) and hence no fresh orders are forthcoming. However, there is very good domestic demand and it is catered by dealers in the primary markets allegedly by evading tax, they said.

In the international market, Vietnam was unchanged and there was not much activity. In Indonesia, FAQ 550 GL was being offered at $3,350 a tonne (fob) while L Asta at $3,450 a tonne (fob). Brazil was closed for holidays.

CONTRACT POSITION

November contract on NCDEX dropped by Rs 123 a quintal on Friday to Rs 13,830. The decline in other contracts was from Rs 85 to Rs 145 a quintal.

On NMCE, November contract matured and 117 tonnes of the commodity were delivered. December contract dropped by Rs 103 to close at Rs 14,132. The drop in other contracts was from Rs 63 to Rs 195 a quintal.

Total turnover on NCDEX dropped by 2,643 tonnes to 9,615 tonnes, while that for November and December fell by 4 per cent and 74 per cent. On NMCE, total turnover declined by 317 tonnes to 914 tonnes.

Total open interest on NCDEX dropped by 59 tonnes to 20,844 tonnes. On NMCE, total open interest moved up by 6 tonnes to 1,873 tonnes.

Spot prices, in tandem with the futures market trend, dropped by Rs 100 a quintal on Friday to close at Rs 13,300 (un-garbled) and Rs 13,900 (MG 1).