Spices shot up during yesterday's trading session Pepper, Jeera, Turmeric were top performers in yesterdays trading session. Cardamom witnessed selling pressure and went down sharply and Mentha oil continues to trade in narrow range.

Jeera huge difference between spot and futures of Rs. 450/quintal and lower arrivals resulted in sharp gains in jeera futures. Arrivals in Unjha mandi was around 300 bags and farmers are reluctant to sell Jeera at low prices; due to festive season demand may scale up in jeera.

Pepper, international origins especially Indonesia, Vietnam and Brazil was firm, surprisingly Brazil was firm. Indian pepper, which is generally traded at premium due to superior quality, is at par with FOB quotes of other origins. Any improvement in domestic or export demand can cause sharp uptick in pepper futures.

Turmeric after September contract expired October contract was trading at huge discount and spot prices were way above futures prices, this aberration triggered buying in Turmeric futures and managed to give strong close.

Arrivals at South Indian Green Cardamom Company Ltd, Kochi were kg. 39730 and average traded price were Rs. 688 kg, and 8 mm bold green was seen traded at Rs. 792/kg.

Pepper we still recommend to buy at dips as fundamentals of the spice are still looking strong. Jeera may move up by another Rs. 100-150/quintal and Turmeric we recommend to buy at dips. Mentha oil looks strong for the day.