Weekly: Pepper Prices Tumbles On Imported Pepper Availability, Jeera/Coriander Declines On New Crop Arrival

MUMBAI (Commoditiescontrol) – Spot Coriander and Jeera prices declined during the week due to selling pressure and new crop arrival while, Red Chilli Teja variety rose due to good demand from overseas buyers. Meanwhile, Turmeric prices were recorded more or less steady due to limited demand during the week.

Though, Black Pepper prices tumbled by 3% due to availability of imported Sri Lankan pepper in the consuming centres.

Rates in Rs/100kg:

BLACK PEPPER:

Spot Black Pepper prices declined further by 3% on the week ended on Friday amid availability of imported Sri Lankan Pepper in major market of India.

Persistent availability of imported Sri Lankan pepper in the consuming centres across the country is reportedly pounding the Indian pepper prices, according to market sources.

They said Sri Lankan pepper was being traded at Rs.400 a kg in the markets on Friday.

"If the pepper arrival from Sri Lanka at the MIP is not stopped the Indian farmers are going to suffer seriously", a veteran trader here said. "How can a person import at Rs.500 a kg (MIP) and sell at Rs.400 a kg here", he asked.

From December 6, the date the MIP came into efffect, to December 30 the prices moved up by Rs.6,800 a quintal to fall from then till (Thursday) today by Rs.4,700 a quintal, market sources pointed out.

Over-invoicing and under invoicing has become a common phenomenon in the pepper trade, they alleged. Even some of the traders and farmers went to the extent of saying that pepper should be removed from the import list in order to save the Indian pepper growers.

Consuming centres in most of the north Indian states are having empty inventories and notwithstanding they have resorted to a wait and watch approach hoping the prices would fall sharply further.

Harvesting will begin in Wayanad in the coming weeks to be followed by Karnataka in March.

As per market sources, 119 tonnes was traded at terminal market against 108 tonnes last week.

CORIANDER:

Coriander prices declined by 3.16% at Rs.5,426/100kg at the benchmark Kota market of Rajasthan due to limited buying support from domestic and international buyers tracking weak fundamentals, said market sources.

Further arrivals of new crop in small quantities have started to enter in the market which also weighed on prices this week, they added.


Arrivals at the major markets of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat reported higher as there is selling pressure at present in market.

Farmers wants to liquidate their old stock as the prices of this stock will decline further once the arrivals of new crop starts in peak season.

Approximately 5,00 bags (40kg each) new crop arrival recorded at major market and traded at Rs.3,500-5,000/100kg depending on the moisture content in the stock.

On futures, Coriander contract expiry in April tumbled by Rs.383 or 6.29% at Rs.5, 704/100 on the National Commodity and Derivative Exchange Limited.

Further, Coriander sowing this season in MP, Rajasthan and Gujarat recorded lower at 2,59,228 ha against 4,25,166 ha in last year.

Prices of the Coriander declined in 2016-17 due to glut production and higher carryover stock from last season.

Coriander prices are expected to trade in current price range but the prices are expected to rise once the old stock gets liquidate as the supplies are expected to get tight in the coming year.

As per CC Commodity estimate Coriander production for 2017-18 is estimated at 313,022 MT compared to previous year’s 433,204 MT.

Though the exact figures cannot be stated at the moment and the production figures can be stated once harvesting starts.

JEERA:

Spot prices of Jeera eased by 1.28% at the benchmark Unjha market during the week ended on Friday amid sluggish demand and new crop arrival in the marketplace.

Domestic and international demand at present is hand to mouth as the market participants have turned sidelined and waiting for new crop, said market sources.

Further, sowing of Jeera recorded higher this year as the farmers have switched from different commodities for better returns.

All the major growing districts have recorded higher coverage: Patan (from 40,700 to 68,100 hectares), Banaskantha (from 64,900 to 67,800 hectares) and Ahmedabad (from 12,400 to 19,800 hectares) in north/central Gujarat; Porbandar (from 12,100 to 23,200 hectares), Rajkot (from 4,900 to 22,000 hectares) and Devbhumi Dwarka (from 4,800 to 20,400 hectares) in Saurashtra; and Kutch (from 23,200 to 29,600 hectares).

On the other hand, Cumin seed export from the country during Apr-Dec pegged nearly 12% higher at 1.02 lakh tonnes due to poor stock in rival countries Turkey and Syria, said an Unjha-based exporter.

Further, production of Jeera will increase this year due to higher sowing reports and favorable climatic conditions in producing belts.

Prices of Jeera will remain under pressure in coming weeks due to selling pressure and new crop arrivals.

Though, the prices are expected to trade in current prices range or can rise despite of higher production due to lower carryover stock and growing demand for Indian Jeera in global market.

On futures, Jeera prices of March month contract declined by Rs.330 or 1.95% at Rs.16, 560/100kg on the National Commodity and Derivative Exchange Limited.

Open interest of the same contract recorded higher at 9,684 lots against 8,496 lots a week ago.

Open interest recorded higher though the prices declined indicated that the market participants were engaged in building short positions at prevailing prices.

RED CHILLI:

Spot Red Chilli Teja variety prices surged by 6.82% at Rs.94/kg at the benchmark Guntur market due to good buying support from international buyers from Bangladesh and China.

Although the prices of the other varieties ruled more or less stable due to sluggish demand from local and upcountry buyers followed by pressure from new crop arrival.

Arrivals from the cold storages declined this week due to less labour availability amid labours were on holidays due to Makar Sankaranti week, said market sources.

Further, price of 341 variety was recorded tad up on Friday as the powder manufacturing companies prefer this variety.

As per market sources second advance estimates, Red Chilli production from producing belts of Andhra Pradesh in 2017-18 is pegged around 5.35 lakh metric tonnes against 10.13 lakh metric in last year.

Production of Red Chilli will decline this year as the farmers lost their interest due to lower prices followed by virus attack due to poor rainfall.

Further, as per market estimates, approximately 35 to 40 lakh bags (40kg each) stock will be carried over this year.

Red Chilli production output is estimated around 3.5 to 3.75 crore bags versus 4.25 to 4.5 crore bags as the farmers lost their interest in commodity due to lower prices this year, as per Mumbai based trader.

Out of this premium deluxe variety is recorded lower and in coming year premium quality stock will be less as the virus attack affects the variety.

Hence prices of premium deluxe quality stock is expected to rise due to tight supplies, even the prices of other varieties will rise once the supplies in all varieties start getting tight.

Turmeric:

Spot Turmeric prices were recorded more or less steady at Nizamabad market during the week ended on Friday due to limited buying activities.

Domestic and export demand was hand to mouth during the week as the buyers are waiting for new crop to enter the market, claimed market sources.

Further, Turmeric prices will remain under pressure in the near term due to higher arrivals in the terminal markets and lower exports, traders said.

However, the fundamentals support a firm market on the basis of reports that the production in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana would be lower than last season.

Crop in the producing belts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Nanded and Basmatnagar area is reported to get affected by virus/pest attack which will affect the outcome by 15-20%.

As per market sources, harvesting will soon and the new crop will start to enter the market from February and extend till March.

Increased global demand for turmeric, especially in the pharmaceutical sector, drove its exports to 1,16,500 tonne in volume and Rs 1,241 crore in value terms in 2016-17. There are expectations of improved demand in coming weeks from the export market.


As per a trader from Nizamabad, current stock of Turmeric in India is pegged around 22 lakh bags (70kg each).

(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau; +91-22-40015522)