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Informist, Thursday, Apr. 23, 2026

 

By Abhijit Doshi

 

MUMBAI – The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange is likely to launch futures trading in pepper next month, according to market sources. The exchange has recently received approval from the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India for the launch, they said.

 

The initial contract is likely to be for one month, with expiry in June. The delivery centre will be Kochi in Kerala, the sources said. The pepper contracts will be of compulsory delivery nature.

 

Officials at NCDEX did not respond to queries from Informist. In December, Informist had reported, quoting the exchange's Chief Executive Officer Arun Raste, that NCDEX was planning to launch pepper futures in 2026. Pepper futures, traded earlier on Indian commodity exchanges, were discontinued because of legal and regulatory issues.

 

Around 2010, NCDEX had launched futures trading in black pepper but had to scrap it because of quality issues.  

 

Raste had told Informist that NCDEX was reviewing the contract after recent developments and was considering a relaunch once the legal matters were resolved. "India is among the largest producers of pepper, yet our role in price discovery is limited," Raste had said. "If you are a dominant producer or a dominant consumer, you should be in a position to set prices."

 

Raste had said NCDEX was looking to relaunch pepper futures as part of its efforts to strengthen trading in agricultural commodities on the exchange. He had also said the exchange was examining the feasibility of the contract in the current market environment.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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