SGX Iron Ore & FFA Swaps Set Records And Outperform In July

Singapore Exchange (“SGX”) Iron Ore Swaps clocked another record achievement in July 2012 with an outstanding volume cleared. These swaps also captured a high open interest record reflecting the breadth, depth and authenticity of market participation in SGX.

Iron Ore Swaps Records	Volume (in lots)	Volume (in tonnes)	% from previous record
Volume cleared in a month	20,961	10.5 M	36%
Volume cleared in a day on 31 Jul	2,226	1.1 M	16%
Month-end open interest	13,425	6.7 M	8%
Open interest in a day on 26 Jul	15,082	7.5 M	0.5%

Just in the first 7 months of 2012, a total of 85,870 lots (42.9M tonnes) of SGX Iron Ore Swaps were cleared, as compared to a full 12-months volume of 86,611 lots in 2011. Year-to-date volumes are 145% higher than the same period last year.

Similarly, FFA Swaps also achieved commendable results with year-to-date cleared volume of 64,723 lots, 31% higher than the same period last year.

With up to almost 50% margin offsets between Iron Ore and FFA swaps, market participants can look forward to greater efficiencies when clearing both swaps on SGX.

In the coming months, SGX will extend its clearing service to options on FFA and Iron Ore swaps. These will provide market participants with more choices to achieve greater trading flexibility and significant margin efficiencies. More details will be provided as they are available.

Chart 1

Note: 1 lot = 500 tonnes

Chart 2

Contract Specifications

	Product Name		SGX OTC Iron Ore Swap
	Contract		Iron Ore CFR China (62% Fe Fines) Swap
	Contract Size		1 lot = 500 metric tonnes
	Ticker Symbol		FE
	Minimum Price Fluctuation		US$0.01 per dry metric tonne (US$5.00)
	Contract Months		Up to 48 consecutive months starting with current month, 12 consecutive months will be added upon expiry in December
	Position Limits*		3,000 contracts
	Trade Registration Hours (Singapore Time)		8.00am - 4.00am Last Trading Day: 8.00am - 8.00pm *Note*: System is not be available from 4.00.01am to 7.59.59am daily
	Last Trading Day		Last publication day of The Steel Index (TSI) iron ore reference prices in the contract month
	Final Settlement Price		Cash settlement using the arithmetic average of all The Steel Index (TSI) iron ore reference prices in the expiring month, rounded to 2 decimal places

SGX Iron Ore swap prices are available on Bloomberg (Ticker: OREXIO1M Index or type MINE and select Iron Ore Forward), Reuters (IOCS=SGX), Dow Jones Metals, Logical Information Machine and www.sgx.com/asiaclear/commodities.

FFA Products	CTC	PTC	STC	C5
Contract	Capesize Time Charter Basket Average 4 Routes	Panamax Time Charter Basket Average 4 Routes	Supramax Time Charter Basket Average 6 Routes	Capesize Route C5 W Australia – Qingdao 160,000mt
Contract Size	1 Day			1,000mt
Ticker Symbol	CV	PV	SV	C5
Contract Period#	Months: Current month Quarters: 5 consecutive quarters starting with current quarter Years: 5 consecutive years contracts starting with current year plus 1			Up to 24 consecutive months starting with current month
Minimum Price Fluctuation	US$1.00 per day			US$0.01 per mt
Position Limits*	2,000 lots of Full-Day Contract or its equivalent in Half-Day Contracts	4,000 lots of Full-Day Contract Or its equivalent in Half-Day Contracts each		1,000 contracts
Trade Registration Hours (Singapore Time)	8.00am – 4.00am Last Trading Day: 8.00am – 8.00pm *Note:* System is not available from 4.00.01am to 7.59.59am daily
Last Trading Day	Last business day of contract month
Final Settlement Price	Cash Settlement using the arithmetic average of all Baltic daily spot price assessments during the expiring month, rounded to 1 decimal place (4 decimal places for C5).

Notes:

# Individual months up to the furthest calendar year is available for clearing.

* Clearing Members may apply to the Exchange for higher position limits on behalf of their customers. Approval is based on the financial standing of the Member and their customer on a case by case basis.

Margin and position offsets in the ratio of 2 half-day contracts to 1 respective full-day contract of the same contract month is available.