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Mumbai based Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) on Saturday successfully launched world’s first iron ore futures contract.
ICEX Iron ore March 2011contract prices were up 1.20% to trade at Rs 8,069 per tonne while April 2011 contracts also traded at Rs 7,628 per tonne.
The contract will be on monthly expiry basis with a trading unit of 100 dry metric tons (DMT). The delivery unit is 5,000 DMT.
In the international markets, the spot Australian benchmark iron ore price hit US$185 per tonne on Friday while Indian iron ore price with 63.5% iron content was quoted at $190 per ton including cost and freight.
Total volume of all the three contracts March, April and May 2011) was 246 lots (24,600 tonnes) valued at Rs 19.50 crores on the first day of trading.
“Based on the run up to launch of Iron Ore contract, trade volumes on first day of trade on ICEX were robust with good participation and liquidity seen in its March and April contracts,” Mr Sanjay Chandel Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ICEX said.
ICEX has established strong connect with the physical market participants such as miners, manufacturers, importers and exporters and they have participated actively in trading, as well as taken lead to develop Iron Ore contract.
“In coming days we shall see more physical market participants using ICEX platform for effective risk management and hedging activities. This is possible due to our contract meeting international standards and transparency in price discovery, which is reflective of the present trade in India,” Mr Chandel said.
