India pepper ends steady on stocks, weak export demand

MUMBAI, Nov 19 (Reuters) - India pepper futures ended steady with an upside bias as thin stocks supported sentiment but weak overseas demand capped gains, analysts said.

The Brazilian crop, which is quoting lower and attracting international demand continued to weigh on sentiment.

"In the medium term prices will rise as the harvesting from Brazil will come to an end this month and that would push Brazilian pepper prices up and demand will also increase from the U.S. and European nations, given the Christmas season," said Mehul Agrawal, an analyst with Sharekhan Commodities.

Spot pepper rose by over 47 rupees to end at 14,829.9 rupees per 100 kg in Kochi, a major trading hub 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 Price Change in %

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Nov NPEX9 14,856 0.06

Dec NPEZ9 15,197 0.34

(Reporting by Nandita Bose; editing by Sunil Nair)