On March 21, 2011 FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, and Saint Petersburg Exchange saw a record high in trading volume in futures contract on raw sugar.
At the end of the trading day on RTS the turnover in raw sugar futures amounted to 6,793 contracts with a total value of USD4.265 million (RUB121 million). The previous record was fixed on February 4, 2011, when the turnover reached 6,564 contracts with a total value of USD4.970 million (RUB141 million) .
The recently introduced futures contract on wheat was also active with large trading volume driven by increasing volatility on global markets. Market participants executed 80 trades with a combined value of USD423 thousand (RUB12 million) representing 1,545 contracts.
"Volatility levels are increasing on food commodity markets and according to many analysts this growth is related to potential food deficits. Therefore, the RTS commodity futures market is becoming an attractive venue for producers and consumers to hedge and for private investors to invest in this important asset class", comments Evgeny Serdyukov, Director of the Futures & Options Market at OJSC RTS.