Voicing concern over the slippage of EOU-imported pepper into the domestic market, the pepper farming community has urged the government to strictly monitor such shipments imported for re-exports.
According to Kishore Shamji of Kishor Spices, there are reports on the availability of bolder berries of 5 mm Vietnam pepper (domestically called 12 nos and 13 nos) imported for re-exports by export-oriented units (EOUs) and marketed in Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi, and Mumbai at the cost of Wayanad and Karnataka farmers. As international pepper prices are showing a firm trend, the farming community also expressed anxiety over the arrival of more Sri Lankan pepper under SAFTA at MIP of ₹500 per kg by paying interest duty at 8 per cent, which would come at a landed cost of ₹540. But importers are offering the commodity at ₹300 per kg for full container load and small lots at ₹320 in the consuming markets.
Meanwhile, spot prices in Kochi remained steady at ₹315/kg for ungarbled with an off-take of 28 tonnes.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.