Wheat futures to be relaunched

Wheat futures are being relaunched even as the process of formation of the new government at the Centre is on. Commodity futures market regulator Forward Market Commission (FMC) has issued letters to all national exchanges, saying that suspension of wheat futures has been revoked and they can be launched after getting an approved contract from the FMC.

Wheat futures were delisted in February 2007 after the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced the decision while presenting the Budget for 2008-09.

Along with this, rice futures were also delisted, while prior to that two varieties of pulses — urad and tur — were discontinued. In both the cases, the reason given was that “futures in these essential commodities are perceived to be putting pressure on prices and hence they are being delisted till further orders”.

After today’s order, exchanges are preparing to design new contracts that will be submitted for approval to FMC. National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) spokesperson Madan Sabnvis said: “We have received communication from the regulator. We will design the contract and sent it for approval. We would like to launch the contract as soon as possible.”

“This is a positive development which will benefit the farmers as well as the industry. We will apply to FMC to launch the contract on Monday,” said Joseph Massey, MD and CEO, MCX.

Wheat prices, which have a weight of 1.38 per cent in the wholesale price index, have remained stable since 2008 on the back of record output and procurement.