Turnover of commodity futures dip 27% in Sept

Total turnover in commodity derivatives on the three national exchanges and 21 regional exchanges in India during September 1-15 was down 27 per cent on year at Rs 1.3 trillion, according to a fortnightly data release by the Forward Markets Commission.

MCX, National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, and National Multi-Commodity Exchange are the three national exchanges. The cumulative turnover for the current financial year till September 15 stood at Rs 16.13 trillion, down nearly 7 per cent on year.

For the first time in the current financial year, MCX "" the country's top exchange in terms of turnover "" registered a marginal drop in turnover, on year-on-year basis, the data showed.

Turnover on MCX during September 1-15 fell 3 per cent on year to Rs 96,800 crore. Gold and silver remained the top traded contracts for MCX, followed by copper and crude oil, the FMC data showed. Turnover on NCDEX during the period fell 56 per cent on year to Rs 27,700 crore compared with Rs 63,000 crore a year ago. The decline was mainly owing to de-listing of tur, urad, wheat, and rice futures in the last quarter of 2006-07 (April-March). Guarseed and pepper were the top two contracts for NCDEX during the period, followed by gold and chana, FMC said.

NMCE registered a fall of 94 per cent in turnover, the steepest among all exchanges, to just Rs 600 crore during September 1-15 period, the data said. Pepper, rubber, and raw jute were the top traded contracts on NMCE.

Among the regional exchanges, National Board of Trade, Indore maintained its leadership position by registering the turnover of nearly Rs 3500 crore. NBOT trades in the entire oilseed complex, but soyoil is the only liquid contract on the exchange, according to FMC.