India pepper futures erase gains on profit-taking

MUMBAI May 22 (Reuters) - Indian pepper futures, up in early trade on export demand, erased all gains to end lower due to profit-taking, analysts said. "There was some profit-booking after a long rally," said Veeresh Hiremath, an analyst with Karvy Comtrade Ltd.

The benchmark July contract has been rising for the last 10 trading sessions and gained more than 9 percent in the period.

However, all the fundamentals are indicating an upward trend, said an analyst with Motilal Oswal Commodities Broker Pvt Ltd.

Export demand is rising as Indian prices are now at par with Vietnam prices due to a weak rupee, he said.

The rupee hit a 13-1/2-month low on Thursday and then pulled back as dealers said state-run banks sold dollars heavily, probably on behalf of the central bank and prompted investors to trim long dollar positions.

Pepper exports touched new highs in 2007/08 and it rose 21.7 percent to 35,000 tonnes, the Spices Board said on Wednesday.

India, the second largest pepper producer and exporter after Vietnam, exports mainly to U.S., UK, Italy, Germany and Canada.

Open interest for July contract rose to 8,059 tonnes from 7,409 tonnes the previous session.

Spot pepper rose 0.8 percent to 15,007 rupees per 100 kg in spices hub of Kochi in Kerala.

Following are the closing prices of pepper futures in rupees per 100 kg on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd. <0#NPE:>:

Contract Reuters code Closing price Change in %

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June NPEM8 15,242 -0.52

July NPEN8 15,611 -0.54 (Reporting by Debiprasad Nayak, editing by Harish Nambiar)