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PanXchange, a Denver-based OTC physical commodity exchange and price reporting provider, today successfully launched its industrial hemp indices, becoming the first company to offer such pricing data to the market. PanXchange now delivers spot market pricing to its members, publishing on a monthly basis, and plans to launch trading capabilities in Q3 of this year.
Prices will be offered for the following hemp products:
- FOB Portland, Oregon Hemp Biomass
- FOB Portland, Oregon Crude Oil
- FOB Denver, Colorado Hemp Biomass
- FOB Denver, Colorado Crude Oil
- FOB Lexington, Kentucky Hemp Biomass
- FOB Lexington, Kentucky Crude Oil
While there have been other attempts to launch hemp trading, those efforts ultimately fizzled partially because of their nonoptimal timing. With the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill on December 20, 2018, the industrial hemp industry is now primed for a period of rapid growth. Previously, despite industrial hemp’s wide array of end uses, including paper products, textiles, plastics, cannabidiol (CBD) and construction materials, it had been outlawed since the 1970s. The increased product supply and the 2018 Farm Bill’s new federal distinction between hemp and marijuana have paved the way for hemp to be viewed as a commercial commodity. United States industrial hemp production has increased on an exponential scale, growing from 9,770 acres planted in 2016 to more than 25,000 acres planted in 2017. While the official figures have not been published by the USDA for 2018, preliminary estimates forecast similar growth to what was seen between 2016 and 2017.
PanXchange CEO Julie Lerner commented, “We’re excited to bring transparent pricing and instant market access to another new commodity, particularly a budding commodity like hemp that is just now establishing a legitimate market. The industrial hemp market is brimming with potential, and given our deep commodity experience and track record in nascent markets like frac sand, PanXchange is the perfect company to provide this market structure solution that commercial producers have been looking for.”
Hemp becomes PanXchange’s second U.S.-focused commodities market, after the launch of frac sand in 2017. PanXchange was the first company to create a market in frac sand, and saw tremendous growth in 2018, with its client base presently representing 45 percent of all sand traded (on and offline). PanXchange’s hemp market will follow the same blueprint as frac sand.
