Black pepper prices soften due to rising imports from abroad and weak domestic demand.
05-Oct-2024 12:51 PM
Kochi. Although the off-season of black pepper supply is going on and it is also the festival season, due to which its prices should have increased, but on the contrary, the market has come down a bit. Due to rising imports from abroad and weak domestic demand, a huge drop of Rs 17 per kg was recorded in the price of black pepper within the last two weeks.
According to trade analysts, due to the arrival of a large part of 4422 tonnes of black pepper imported from various countries in the terminal market of Kochi, the pressure on prices is increasing.
The maximum import is coming from Sri Lanka. Apart from this, black pepper is also being imported from countries like Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Due to huge imports, the supply and availability of black pepper in the domestic market has increased significantly,
due to which the consumer industry has slowed down the pace of its purchase process because black pepper has been purchased at a lower price for October-November delivery.
The director of the Indian Pepper and Spices Trade Association (IPSTA) says that the price of pepper in the domestic market (producer markets) is currently running at Rs 666 per kg for the garbled category and Rs 646 per kg for the ungarbled variety.
In contrast, the price of 500 GL variety of pepper is being reported to be only Rs 636 per kg. Despite the festival season continuing,
the demand for pepper is seen to be weak in the consumption centers of North India because there is sufficient stock of cheap goods imported from abroad and its price is also about Rs 25 per kg lower than the price of pepper produced in the domestic division.
On the other hand, Vietnam's exports are being affected due to weak demand from China. It is known that an average of 60,000 tons of pepper is exported from Vietnam to China every year.
Similarly, due to the war-like situation in West Asia, the import of pepper in the US and the European Union has also started decreasing or shipments are getting delayed.