The futures market of black pepper does not move in tandem with the real market parameters as there is no panic trading even after futures prices collapsed heavily.
It is the low stock in the country that seems to determine the course of action in the market rather than speculative trading in futures.
It is because of this, there are very few sellers even after the prices plummeting.
India is no longer a major global player, thanks to low-stock. The country commands a stock of around 15,000 tonnes which can be consumed domestically during the winter season. But the ongoing bear phase in futures trading has badly hit the domestic demand, said leading Kochi-based traders.
The trend caused a slowdown in the demand from upcountry markets for the time being but market sources expect an improvement once the prices stabilised.
