NMCE to re-launch coffee futures

"We have been planning for a wide spectrum of participation in the trading platform and we are now working for ensuring larger participation of the stakeholders which lacked in the earlier edition of trading. We are in touch with growers and traders of Kerala and Karnataka and chalking out a strategy to ensure the sustainability of trading", he said while meeting a group of journalists here. The exchange has planned to conduct a series of awareness programmes including road shows in Kerala and Karnataka to ensure larger participation. The re-launch will be organised as a mega event and the venue will be either Kochi or Bangalore.

 

He added that apart from the earlier grade of Robusta Cherry AB, another grade, Robusta Cherry EP, would also be included during the re-launch. According to Misra, launching of Robusta-EP variety contract will facilitate more participation as 70% of Robusta output in the country belongs to that grade.

The minimum lot for trading is yet to be finalized, but it might be a tonne, so that more participation can be ensured. The contract trading of coffee was stopped two years back, due to spread of rumours that the penalty would be estimated at the highest price ever traded, if there is a lapse in taking delivery. Such rumours had badly affected the trading system and confidence of the stakeholders. There were no quality issues as quality had been double checked through a system evolved by central warehousing corporation (CWC) and the coffee board, he said.

"We are planning to have a re-launch in the next 30-45 days," he said.

NMCE is also planning to enhance warehousing facility and delivery centers for coffee so that a transparent system is set in motion for the trading.

New delivery centers will be opened at Kuzhal Nagar, Chickmangalore and Hassan in Karnataka and Kalpetta in Kerala in addition to the existing CWC's facilities at Bangalore, he said. Misra said NMCE would continue to focus on agricultural commodities despite uncertainties at the policy level of the government over conducting futures trading in these commodities.

The compulsory delivery-based model of futures trading in agricultural commodities practiced by NMCE is going to be sustainable in the long term, he added.

NMCE is also open to opportunities for futures trading in power sector, weather derivatives etc, the chief operating officer said. The exchange had an average business of 1,000 tonnes a day in coffee.