The Hindu Business Line : Pepper futures surge on continued tight supply

Indonesia, where harvesting is round the corner, has raised its prices further to $1,950 - $1,975 a tonne c&f, which market players say, "signals of something wrong somewhere". Ecuador is also said to have raised prices to $1,825.

However, Brazil is reported to have offered at $1,675 a tonne (c&f).

Spot active

India, because of better rupee - dollar exchange rate, is offering at $1,925 - $1,950 a tonne (c&f). With the futures market going up, investors have become active for spot materials.

Indications are that the prices might move up further, they said.

August contract was up by Rs 137 on NCDEX on Friday to close at Rs 8,268 a quintal from Rs 8,131 on Thursday.

On NMCE, it went up by Rs 132 to close at Rs 8,260 from Rs 8,128 a quintal yesterday.

All the other positions on NCDEX increased by Rs 52 to Rs 114 a quintal, while on NMCE it went up by Rs 78 to Rs 118.

The total turnover on NCDEX on Friday increased by 230 tonnes to 9,156 tonnes from 8,926 tonnes. On NMCE, it moved up by 302 tonnes to 1,588 tonnes from 1,286 tonnes.

The total open interest on NCDEX on Friday was 17,033 tonnes as against 17,193 tonnes while on NMCE it was 3,385 tonnes compared to 3,247 tonnes on Thursday.

The outstanding position on NCDEX on Friday for August, September and October was 7,354 tonnes, 3,302 tonnes and 4,296 tonnes respectively.

Karnataka, which was catering to the domestic market at prices lower than that of Kerala, has also increased to the levels of the latter.

Those who are evading tax are said to be buying at one or two rupees higher than the prevailing Kerala price.

In tandem with the futures market, the prices of spot pepper moved up further by Rs 100 a quintal to Rs 7,750 (un-garbled ) and Rs 8,150 (MG 1) on Friday.