Futures Trading resumes in the four banned commodities

Futures trading in soya oil, chana, potato and rubber resumed on 4 December on the MCX, NCDEX, NMCE and NBOT platforms, after a near seven-month ban on the four items ended on 30 November.

The ban was imposed to ease inflationary pressures. These four commodities accounted for a trading volume valued at nearly Rs15,000 crore every month out of the total volume estimated at Rs164,080 crore according to the data available on the Forward Markets Commission Web site.

According to the data, during first fortnight of April, soyabean oil made up over Rs3,000 crore, and chana Rs4,300 crore. Trading in rubber and potato futures has been minimal.

India imports most of it's edible oil requirement and is the biggest buyer of edible oils after China.
 
Day end prices
On opening soya oil and chana opened weak, potato and rubber were firm.

Soya oil for January 2009 delivery fell 2.71% at Rs447.55 per 10 kg on NCDEX, while it dipped by 4% at Rs451.20 on the MCX. Soybean futures closed down on weak sentiments in global market. Huge stock of soybean in Argentina is setting the bearish tone. Arrivals of soybean were around 2.50-3.00 lakhs bags (bags=85 kg) in major markets. Total stocks are expected to be around 10 million tonnes this year.

However, it was 3 million tonnes last year at this time. Once the harvesting of new crop starts, it will pressurize prices in medium to long term.

Chana on NCDEX and MCX were trading negative. The most-active January contract fell 0.8% at Rs 2,231 per quintal on NCDEX and 1.54% at Rs 2,240 on MCX.

Potato futures took a bullish note. Both the Agra and Tarkeshwar (West Bengal) varieties for March 2009 delivery were up by 4% at Rs447 per quintal and Rs 270 per quintal, respectively.

Rubber traded firm on MCX and NMCE. The January contract rose 3% at Rs6,180 per tonne, while there was no trading in February and March contracts. Rubber on NMCE was trading at Rs6,378 per tonne.