Pepper futures set a new record of Rs 457.09 crore (Rs 4.57 billion) during intra-day trading at the National Multi-Commodity Exchange last week.
The turnover is up against the earlier record of Rs 340.44 crore (Rs 3.40 billion) at the exchange in a single day on February 1, 2007.
The daily turnover of pepper at NMCE usually ranges between Rs100 crore (Rs 1 billion) and Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion), but it had crossed the Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) mark in early February and the Rs 400 crore (rs 4 billion) mark for four consecutive days through Monday to Thursday last week, peaking to Rs 457.09 crore on April 10.
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 had gone 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.