Weekly: Selling Pressure May Continue In Black Pepper

MUMBAI (Commoditiescontrol) - Black pepper prices remained weak during the week ended April 13 due to selling pressure coming from from Karnataka and Kerala.

More and more sellers were coming forward to sell in Karnataka while there were no domestic demand.

At the same time, smuggling of Vietnam pepper into India via borders with Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal was also allegedly taking place rampantly. The recent drop in price in Vietnam - where harvesting is at its peak - has turned the Vietnamese spice more competitive in the Indian market.

Meanwhile, North Indian traders were also claiming that they were still getting imported material at cheaper rates even from Brazil now.

Exporters having pending commitments were buying the spice from the terminal market.

Spot prices fell by Rs 7 per kg or 1.87 percent (ungarbled) and by Rs 7 or 1.7 percent (garbled).

Indian parity in the international markets (c&f) weakened by 1.59 percent for Europe and 1.53 percent for USA.

Balance Sheet

According to the balance sheet, carry-forward stock for this year is estimated at 20 thousand tonnes, which is the highest in the last two years, and domestic production is also estimated at 55 thousand tonnes.

Despite the total consumption of 58 thousand tonnes, a total of 22,000 tonnes of carry-forward stock is expected for the next year.

With the rise in the production in the global market and unexpected decline in the prices, there could be a weak trade in black pepper in the domestic market.