Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) will commence trading in rubber futures contract effective August 16, 2018. This new agri contract is targeted towards offering an effective hedging solution to the rubber value chain participants—growers, traders, exporters, importers, and tyre manufacturing companies among others.
India is the sixth largest producer and second largest consumer of natural rubber in the world.
Contracts ending in September, October, November, and December 2018 will be available for trading. The underlying quality of the contract is the Ribbed Smoked Sheets 4 (RSS4) and the lot size is 1 MT (metric tonne) with compulsory delivery option logic. The price for 100 kilograms is quoted Ex-Kochi (Ernakulam), exclusive of all sales/GST.
Mr. Mrugank Paranjape, MD & CEO, MCX said, “The launch of Rubber Futures Contract signifies an important development for MCX as we introduce another new commodity in the agri segment. India is one of the major consumers and producers of natural rubber. With the launch of this new contract, we expect to provide transparent and fair benchmark prices that closely reflect supply and demand fundamentals in physical rubber market. We are encouraged by the market feedback and look forward to successful launch of the contract with overwhelming participation from across the rubber industry.”
Mr Sibi. J. Monippally, General Secretary, Indian Rubber Growers Association said, “The Rubber Futures are absolutely necessary for Price Risk management and hedging for all the stakeholders of the Rubber trade. Rubber futures will act as a domestic benchmark for price discovery for the Rubber prices.”
Mr. Alex Rocky, Proprietor, John Jacob & Co. said, “We are glad to learn that MCX is launching Rubber Futures Contact. It will help the market participants’ hedge and manage their price exposure risks effectively.”
India is the sixth largest producer and second largest consumer of natural rubber in the world. Owing to its unique qualities, when compared with the elastomers and synthetic rubber Indian natural rubber is the preferred raw material for related businesses. Rubber caters to a spectrum of industries such as automobile, aeronautics, electrical and electronics, materials handling, health care, power transmission, etc.
The production of Natural Rubber in India during the year 2017-18 was 694,000 MT here as the consumption stood at 11,12,210 MT, up 6.5 per cent from the previous year. As per data available from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics, the country imported 469,760 MT of natural rubber during 2017-18.
