MCX in pact with China's ZCE

New Delhi, Sep 18 (UNI) Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) and China's Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) today announced that they have entered into an agreement to explore areas of co-operation for mutual benefit.

Under the agreement, the exchanges will work together to develop areas of cooperation and business opportunities with the goal of assisting and benefiting the underlying producers, end-users, and investors in their commonly traded products by maximising the application of international best practices for price risk management and exchange operations.

''Through this association we shall be able to learn from each others experiences in the respective countries, which will go a long way in developing closer ties between us,'' MCX Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Jignesh Shah said.

MCX offers futures trading in over 70 commodities with an average daily turnover of over Rs 7000 crore. It recently announced its plans to launch trading in more than 20 commodities, including carbon and sulphur credits, by the end of FY07.

Its key shareholders include Financial Technologies (India) Ltd (FTIL), State Bank of India (SBI), National Stock Exchange, NABARD, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda.

ZCE President and Chief Executive Officer Zhao Zhengping said, ''We believe that this MOU will reinforce our good relationship, deepen extensive communications and provide supports for the innovations and development of both markets.'' With present 222 members, ZCE is a non-profit membership organisation under the authority of China Securities Regulatory Commission and adopts electronic trading system. It offers commodity futures contracts in wheat, cotton and white sugar.

The total trading volume at the exchange for 2005 was about 56.95 million contracts. The total trading volume for January to August 2006 was 43,350,792 contracts.

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