NCDEX announces commencement of trading in Castor seed futures

The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd. (NCDEX), India’s leading commodity exchange, today announced the commencement of trading in Castor seed futures. The Exchange has received approval from SEBI for re-launching of the contract after its suspension in January 2016. The castor seed futures contract serves a larger economic purpose. It is a crucial risk mitigation tool for the castor seed, oil and derivatives’ processors and exporters, who need to hedge their exposure to price risk. In the absence of futures contract, which is an effective risk mitigation tool, the traders/processors/exporters are left vulnerable to fluctuating prices. For the castor farmers, the Exchange not only provides a national price benchmark, but also an alternate market platform, thereby enabling the farmer to get fair price for his produce.  Absence of a transparent national price benchmark and a hedging platform was a severe setback to all the castor value chain participants.   Samir Shah, Managing Director and CEO, NCDEX, said, “It is indeed heartening to have the regulators confidence and the support of market participants. We have significantly strengthened risk management framework under the guidance of SEBI and we look forward to the successful re-launch of the castor seed contact.”In the last six months, the Exchange focussed on building a stronger framework for risk management and surveillance. NCDEX also had a hard look at its risk management practices and processes, and introduced concentration margins, penalties for late payments of member obligations, and a more fit-for-purpose initial margin structure for commodities based on liquidity. The strengthening of these systems, making them more robust and world-class was aimed at making the markets more safer. The Exchange also demonstrated its commitment to protect investor interests through the close out process, which was very well appreciated by the market participants. Castor seed contract (Symbol : CASTOR) expiring in the months of February 2017, March 2017, April 2017 and  May 2017 would be available for trading from January 5, 2017 The contract specifications are available on www.ncdex.com.