NEW DELHI: Pepper exports during January-July 2015 have risen by about a third to an estimated 16,000 tonnes as against 12,000 tonnes in corresponding period last year, market sources said.
Tight availability has kept the prices at higher levels and the exports have reportedly taken place when the prices were ruling at around $10,000 a tonne, they added.
Shipments through Kochi port alone showed an increase of 46.68 per cent at 13,990 tonnes as against 9,538 tonnes. Imports have also surged by 11 per cent for the period under review, they said.
Exports during last calendar year via Kochi port stood at 17,099 tonnes and at the national level it was estimated to be around 20,000 tonnes.
Tight availability continued to exist in India. Growers who can afford to hold back are doing so, of late, in anticipation of a price rise next season due to an expected poor crop due to erratic monsoon rains this year, primary market dealers said.
Meanwhile, Karnataka – which had a bumper crop during the current season – is also expecting a lower crop next season as it gets good crop every alternate year. Add to this is the unfavourable weather conditions, some of the growers in Sakleshpur and Chikmagaluru said.
One of the sources of availability, at present, to meet the domestic demand is the pepper released from the warehouses after being cleared by the food safety authorities, market sources said.
An estimated 6,000 tonnes of ‘allegedly tainted pepper’ held by cartels for over two years in warehouses are being released in instalments after being cleared by a designated laboratory in Kolkata, they said.
Domestic pipelines are claimed to be empty as the buyers have been postponing buying during April, May, June anticipating fall in prices. Meanwhile, the current exchange rates would make imports unattractive unless they are made under-invoiced, they said.
US and the EU importers are reporting that they could buy Indonesian pepper at about $300-400 below Indian and Vietnamese prices and, therefore, in the next two months Indonesia will be in the driving seat in the international pepper arena, Kishor Shamji, an exporter and former President, IPSTA.
