Pepper prices remained steady despite a slow trading in upcountry markets, mainly because of the financial yearend as well as coronavirus-related issues.
Normally, these months are considered as a demand period for domestically produced pepper, but it was subdued. Traders attributed the lower buyer participation to the availability of Brazilian pepper, which is mainly traded in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, and Indore markets. The Brazil commodity has been delivered doorstep at ₹325 per kg, while the Indian pepper price is hovering in the range of ₹370-375, including GST. Ungarbled pepper varieties realised an average price of ₹299, while MG1 garbled was quoted at ₹319. The off-take was 23 tonnes.
According to Kishore Shamji of Kishor Spices, Vietnam is getting aggressive and may reduce their prices further though farmers in that country are reluctant to sell at lower prices. The Sri Lankan harvest is fast approaching by April and therefore those importers who are obtained import licenses from DGFT to import at concessional duty rate of 8 per cent are looking to import below MIP. There are a good number of applicants to ship pepper from Sri Lanka under SAFTA at 8 per cent, he said.