Pepper, jeera rise on fresh buying

Black pepper and jeera prices spurted by Rs 500 per quintal in the national capital today on fresh buying support from retailers as well as exporters amid tight stocks.

Tight stocks followed by fall in supplies from the producing belts and a firming trend in futures market also supported the rise in prices.

Black pepper prices surged by Rs 500 to settle at Rs 22,500-22,700 per quintal.

Jeera common and jeera best quality also traded higher at Rs 14,400-14,600 and Rs 15,400-16,000, against the previous closing of Rs 14,200-14,400 and Rs 15,200-15,800 per quintal, respectively in view of fall in supplies from Unjha in Gujarat against better offtake.

Traders said the rise in pepper and jeera prices was attributed to good demand from retailers and stockists followed by fall in supplies from producing belts, mainly pushed up select spice prices on the wholesale kirana market here.

Following are today's quotations (per quintal):

Ajwain 14,000-19,000, black pepper common 22,500-22,700, betelnut (kg) 85-105, cardamom brown-Jhundiwali (kg) 740-750 and cardamom brown -Kanchicut (kg) 825-950.

Cardamom small (kg): Chitridar 1,190-1,350, cardamom (colour robin) 1,440-1,450, cardamom bold 1,465-1,475, cardamom extra (bold) 1,590-1,610 and cloves (kg) 290-360.