Persistent decline in prices has driven the sellers, especially in the High Ranges, away from the market on Thursday. They said they are not ready to part with their produce at the current prices.
Meanwhile, buyers are also keeping away anticipating a further fall in prices.
In the world market, Indian pepper is totally outpriced and the only solace is in the domestic demand, which is slack due to flooding of the upcountry consuming centres with imported cheap material, market sources told
As a result, arrivals narrowed down to 11 tonnes today and of this three tonnes of purely local pepper were traded at ₹377 a kg, while eight tonnes of High Range pepper went for ₹390.
Spot pepper fell further by ₹300 a quintal to ₹38,600 (ungarbled) and ₹40,600 (garbled).
Export prices were at $6,775 a tonne c&f for Europe and $7,025 for the US.