Commexes' turnover up 20% till June 15 of this fiscal

Turnover of the commodity exchanges rose by 20 per cent to Rs 13.97 lakh crore between April 1 and June 15 period of this fiscal on increased trade in farm and energy items.

The turnover stood at Rs 11.66 lakh crore in the year-ago period, commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) said in a statement.

As per the FMC data, the turnover from energy rose by 57 per cent to Rs 4.02 lakh crore till June 15 of this fiscal, as against Rs 2.55 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Agri-commodities' turnover increased by 24 per cent to Rs 2.95 lakh crore from Rs 2.38 lakh crore, while turnover of metals rose by 16 per cent to Rs 2.94 lakh crore from Rs 2.54 lakh crore during the period under review.

However, the turnover from bullion fell marginally by 3 per cent to Rs 4.04 lakh crore till June 15 of this fiscal from Rs 4.17 lakh crore in the same period of previous year.

"Higher trade volumes in agri-futures especially in chana, guar, mustard, dhaniya, castor seed, zeera and soyabean was mainly due to production concerns in the wake of poor monsoon projection for this year," said Harish Gallipelli, who heads commodities business at a brokerage firm Inditrade Derivatives and Commodities Ltd.

With monsoon covering most parts of the country, traders are now profit-booking in agricultural commodities, he said.

Gallipelli said there was increased trade participation in crude oil on account of higher volatility. Traders shifted to crude oil futures from bullion for better gains.

At present, there are three national commodity exchanges -- MCX, NCDEX and NMCE and six regional level bourses in the country.