The pepper market continued to head north on Wednesday on good buying support amid tight supply. All the active contracts increased and closed above the previous day’s closing.
February contract opened on an easier note at Rs 34,785 a quintal and touched the lowest price of the day at Rs 34,395, down by Rs 50 a quintal in the opening session itself and traded with volatility till the afternoon. Then it moved up and hit the highest price of the day at Rs 35,395, up by Rs 660 a quintal, from the lowest price of the day and thereafter slipped and traded with volatility and the last traded price was Rs 35,100 a quintal.
Spot pepper was not available while there was good domestic demand for physical pepper. Tamil Nadu-based dealers were covering aggressively from the high ranges. There were said to be buyers at Rs 380 a kg high range pepper from Idukki but no sellers were forthcoming. Whatever material available was being bought by these dealers directly from the farmers at terminal market price, market sources told
More and more buyers are emerging. At the same time, because of the cloudy weather in the growing areas growers were not harvesting, they said.
On the spot, 12 tonnes of fresh pepper arrived from the southern districts which was sold at Rs 350, 360 and 373 a kg, they said.
February contract on the NCDEX increased by Rs 365 a quintal to close at Rs 35,105 a quintal. March and April were up by Rs 200 and 100 respectively to close at Rs 34,165 and 33,800 a quintal.
Turnover
Total turnover increased by 941 tonnes to close at 2,001 tonnes. Total open interest rose by 170 tonnes to close at 3,941 tonnes.
February open interest went up by 104 tonnes to 2,862 tonnes while that of March and April increased by 44 tonnes and 21 tonnes respectively to close at 755 tonnes and 301 tonnes.
Spot prices in tandem with the futures market trend was up by Rs 100 a quintal to close at Rs3 7,300 (ungarbled) and Rs 38,800 (MG 1) a quintal.
Indian parity in the international market today at spot prices moved up to $7,400 a tonne while at Feb prices it was at $6,700 a tonne (c&f). Appreciation of the rupee also aided the price rise, they said.