Comexes' turnover soars 29% in FY09

Buoyed by the bullion trade, the turnover of commodity exchanges in the country rose by 29 per cent to Rs 52,48,956 crore during 2008-09 fiscal against Rs 40,65,989 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The maximum business was seen in bullion with the turnover growing by 72.29 per cent at Rs 29,73,674 crore, while agricultural commodities saw a 33.36 per cent fall in turnover at Rs 6,27,303 crore in 2008-09, according to the latest data released by the commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

The regulator attributed the fall in volumes in agri-futures to the ban on few farm items like soya oil and the global economic downturn towards 2008-end.

Meanwhile, business from energy and carbon credit trading rose by 17.82 per cent to Rs 16,47,978 crore during the review period, it said.

Interestingly, the turnover of three national level commodity exchanges and 19 regional bourses soared by over 60 per cent at Rs 3,42,645 crore in the last fortnight of 2008-09 fiscal.

During March 16-31, the turnover of the leading exchange MCX stood at Rs 2,97,544 crore while the leading agri-commodity bourse NCDEX recorded a business of Rs 23,121 crore. Other national level exchange Ahmedabad-based NMCE registered a turnover of Rs 13,691 crore.

Among the regional bourses, the Indore-based National Board of Trade, which basically deal in soya oil, showed an impressive turnover of Rs 5,272 crore in the second fortnight of January.

Of the traded commodities at MCX, gold, crude oil and silver recorded the highest volume, the FMC data said.

The near-month contract (April 2009) in gold was quoted at its highest level at Rs 15,582 per 10 gram on March 20 and the total value of trade in all gold contracts was Rs 1,53,022 crore. Crude oil turnover at MCX was Rs 59,387 crore, while silver turnover stood at Rs 44,175 crore.

At NCDEX, turmeric, soyabean and soya oil had the highest volumes of trade. Turmeric trading surpassed soya oil with a turnover of Rs 5,241 crore. Soya oil recorded a business of Rs 2,749 crore.