Indian black pepper market remains firm

The Indian black pepper market continues to be firm, across major primary and secondary markets, Olam Spices & Vegetable Ingredients said in its May spices report.

The company suggested that Indian farmers are likely to hold most of their pepper stocks on the expectation that prices will strengthen further.

Growing areas across Kerala and south Karnataka started getting pre-monsoon showers in the last few days ahead of the report (May 19) which seems to be advantageous to next year’s crop. However, farmers are likely to hold most of their stock on better price expectations, especially for festival and winter demand, Olam Spices predicted.

The continuous dry spell across growing areas of northern Karnataka in last two months already affected the pepper vines in some areas, the company noted.

Olam Spices feels that the market is likely to be very tight in 2016 on low production estimates and empty pipeline stock. Current pre-monsoon showers might not trigger a downward price correction in 2016, “but can only support for a very short term term steady market,” the report concluded.