Minimal movement in Indian black pepper

Prices from this origin have remained range bound to low over the last fortnight, with limited buying and selling interest at current levels, Olam Spices & Vegetable Ingredients stated.

Domestic demand remains sluggish on the back of low price imports,” the company added.

Preliminary crop forecasts are pointing towards a volume of around 60,000-65,000 tonnes, which would be better than last year.

Farmers and traders continue to hold strong, mainly due to prevailing unfavourable climatic conditions. These include insufficient rainfall across major growing areas of Kerala and Karnataka, a situation which has continued for more than one month.

Even with the current major price disparity between other origins, Indian black pepper prices remain comparatively high and it is not easy to cover good volumes currently, Olam Spices noted.

The company predicted that Indian farm grade quality black pepper is likely to trade in a range of INR670-710 (USD10.02-10.61) per kilo for the near term before the new arrivals based on the domestic demand for the next two months versus the stock release pattern by traders and farmers.

Olam Spices indicated ungarbled Indian black pepper of 550-560 g/l at INR680-685/kg and ungarbled 580-600 g/l material at INR685-690/kg.