Spot pepper turns hot on Monday following holding back by sellers of Karnataka and the high ranges of Kerala. Imported pepper is available in huge volumes but selective buyers were looking for high bulk density material from the high ranges which the sellers were reluctant to release, market sources told Business Line .
They said imported pepper was being traded at ₹400 a kg. 32 tonnes of imported stuff traded today while 9 tonnes of high range pepper were traded at ₹440 a kg. Spot prices increased by ₹600 a quintal in three days. Ungarbled and garbled were closed at ₹42,800 and ₹44,800 a quintal respectively. Indian export prices were at $7,000 a tonne c&f for Europe and $7,250 a tonne c&f for the US.