Commexes' turnover up by 28% in April: FMC

The turnover of the commodity exchanges rose by 28% to Rs 14,77,303 crore in April this fiscal even as trading volumes dropped in metals and agricultural commodities, according to the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

The commodity bourses had seen a turnover of Rs 11,52,471 crore in the same month last year.

Much of the business has come from futures trading in crude oil, gold and silver, though the turnover remained marginally lower in base metals and farm items, commodity markets regulator FMC said in a statement.

The turnover from energy items like crude rose by 84% to Rs 35,00,12 crore in April of 2013-14 fiscal, against Rs 18,97,77 crore in the year-ago period.

Similarly, the business from gold and silver commodities increased by 34.41% to Rs 71,56,91 crore in the review period from Rs 53,24,64 crore in the year-ago period.

However, the turnover of agricultural items fell by 8.57% to Rs 14,84,68 crore in April of FY14 from Rs 16,23,87 crore in the same month last fiscal.

The business from metals like copper fell marginally by 1.76% to Rs 26,31,31 crore in April FY14 from Rs 26,78,42 crore in the corresponding period previous fiscal.

To curb price volatility, FMC said it has imposed 10% special margins in cash on buyer side in soyabean and soyabean meal contracts of May, June and July being offered on NCDEX, ACE and UCX platforms effective from April 30.

There are 22 commodity bourses in the country, of which six of them operate at national level. The combined turnover of these bourses stood at Rs 170,46,840 crore in the 2012-13 fiscal, down by 6% from the previous fiscal.