Pepper futures post record at NMCE

Ahmedabad, Apr 19 (UNI) Pepper futures has set a new record of Rs 457.09-cr intra-day trading at the National Multi-Commodity Exchange (NMCE) last week, improving upon its earlier record of Rs 340.44-cr turnover in a single day on February 1, 2007.

The daily turnover of pepper at NMCE usually ranges between Rs 100-cr and Rs 200-cr, but it had crossed the Rs 300-cr mark in early February and the Rs 400-cr mark for four consecutive days through Monday to Thursday last week, peaking to Rs 457.09-cr on April 10, said a release here.

Pepper, one of the most traded commodities on NMCE terminals, runs six series concurrently, each expiring on 15th day in respective calendar month. It also hit several upper and lower circuits in different series during the outgoing month, before the near April 2007 series finally settled at Rs.15,253 (per quintal) on Saturday.

The most traded May series in pepper went down by Rs.716 on a single day to close at Rs.14,582 on April 17 and went up by Rs.823 to close at Rs.15,283 on April 9, the range reflecting the volatility of the commodity and vibrancy of the market.

The high volatility in the prices of pepper is attributed to low production of the commodity, in Vietnam, due to crop failure and tight supply position with Indian growers and traders.

Futures series of other commodities that expired at NMCE last weekend included Gold Rs.9596, Rubber Rs.9,254, Cardamom Rs.404.00, Castor oil Rs.449, Coconut oil Rs.4,902, Cotton oil Rs.459, Isabgul seed Rs.4,220, Cumin seed Rs.13,057 and Guar gum Rs.4,985.

Meanwhile, NMCE launched new futures contract in 38 series and six new spread series in different commodities this week. At present, NMCE runs futures contract in about 200 series in 70 commodities.

UNI