Black pepper surges on strong demand, tight supply

Black pepper prices surged at the spices market here today due to persistent demand from stockists and retailers. Strong export enquiries as well as lower supplies mainly pushed up prices and the trend is likely to continue, traders said.

Black pepper rose further by Rs 10 per kilo to Rs 235/251 from Tuesday's closing level of Rs 225/241. Meanwhile, copra edible Mumbai and copra office Alapuzha declined on reduced buying support.

Copra edible Mumbai dropped by Rs 75 per quintal to Rs 4,600 from Rs 4,675 and copra office Alapuzha slipped by Rs 50 per quintal to Rs 3,850, as against Rs 3,900 yesterday.

Following are today's closing rates in rupees, with the previous rates in brackets:

Black Pepper (per kilo) 235/251 (225/241), ginger bleached (per kilo) 235 (235), ginger unbleached (per kilo)255 (255), copra office Alapuzha (per quintal) 3,850 (3,900), copra office Kozhikode (per quintal) 3,750 (3,750)

copra Rajapur Mumbai (per quintal) 5,900 (5,900) and copra edible Mumbai (per quintal) 4,600 (4,675)