MUMBAI (Commoditiescontrol) – Black pepper prices continued their decline during the week ended April 20 owing to sustained selling pressure.
Further fall in prices can’t be ruled out.
According to sources, black pepper is being smuggled in the country through Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal. The spice from Vietnam is also reportedly available at competitive rates.
They claimed that such importers are allegedly funded from Singapore and Dubai. Because of this, smuggled black pepper is arriving in India without paying GST, which is making the smuggled produce cheaper than local produce and help shift demand towards it.
According to business sources, demand in Tamil Nadu is expected to revive after the Cauvery water dispute is resolved.
They said that major stockists, traders and farmers are currently reluctant to offer their stocks.
Market sources said that after the availability of cheap pepper, prices fell by up to Rs 2,500 a quintal in less than three weeks.
Meanwhile, high-end sellers are staying away from the market due to continuous fall because they are not interested in offloading their stock at current prices.
North Indian traders claimed that they are still importing cheap black pepper from Brazil.
On the other hand, exporters having pending commitments were buying the spice from the terminal market.
In Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, sellers are not interested in offloading their stock at cheap prices because they are not getting the right price. Besides availability of pepper from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Brunei, Laos at cheaper rates may continue downtrend in local prices.
At Kochi market, spot prices fell by Rs 4 per kg or 1.1 percent (ungarbled) and by Rs 4 or 1.05 percent (garbled) as compared to last week. Garbled and ungarbled pepper on Friday quoted at Rs 378 per kg and Rs 358 per kg, respectively.
While Indian parity in the international markets (c&f) weakened by 1.65 percent to $ 5,950 per tonne for Europe and 1.59 percent to $ 6,200 per tonne for USA during the week.
(By Commodities Control Bureau; + 91-22-40015567)
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