These include:
- Cooperation in making available trading in each exchange's contracts available via computer terminals in the opposite country
- Cooperation in securing the appropriate regulatory approvals from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry in Japan and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the United States
- Cooperation in establishing a procedure to communicate and share information on conditions that could effect the other marketplace, reinforcing the ability of each exchange to operate in a fair and orderly manner
- Exploring areas of cooperation that will enhance the liquidity, efficiency, and integrity of each market, including new business opportunities as they arise
New York Mercantile Exchange President J. Robert Collins, Jr., said, "There are many synergies between the products offered by both exchanges and this alliance can only benefit both of our memberships as well as our customers. We welcome the opportunities that will be created through this relationship."
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange President HAMADA Takamichi said, "The alliance is significant in the sense that two exchanges have many common commodities listed in the areas of energy and metals. We hope this alliance will contribute to the further development of world energy trading, in crude oil in particular."
The New York Mercantile Exchange is the largest physical commodity exchange in the world, offering futures and options trading in energy and metals contracts and clearing services for off-exchange energy transactions. Through a combination of open outcry floor trading and the NYMEX ACCESS® and NYMEX ClearPortsm electronic trading platforms, a wide range of crude oil, petroleum product, natural gas, coal, electricity, gold, silver, copper, aluminum, and platinum group metals markets are available virtually 24 hours each day.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) is the world's second largest commodity futures exchange, and by far the largest futures exchange in Japan. TOCOM offers crude oil, gasoline, kerosene, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and aluminum futures contracts on its electronic platform, and a rubber futures contract on its trading floor. TOCOM's energy futures contracts constitute Asia's first successful energy market, recording 33 million lots in 2002. TOCOM has more than ten years of experience in electronic trading, and updated its system into a state-of-the-art-platform at the beginning of 2003.
