NCDEX TIPS

INDIAN REGULATOR CUTS POSITION LIMITS ON CHANA, OILSEEDS

Date: 09/04/2012

India's commodity market regulator has cut the total size of contracts an exchange member can hold in chana and oilseed futures from Tuesday, a move that is aimed to curb excessive speculation in the wake of an expected drop in output.

The near-month limit for each member at the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange and the Multi Commodity Exchange in chana is reduced to 15,000 tonnes from 20,000 tonnes, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) said in a statement.

It also cut the client position for chana to 3,000 tonnes from 4,000 tonnes.

Production of chana, or chickpea, is expected to drop to 7.66 million tonnes in 2011/12 from 8.22 million tonnes a year earlier, data from the farm ministry showed.

For soybean contracts, the each member's limit has been slashed to 21,000 tonnes from 40,000 tonnes and the client position is down to 4,200 tonnes from 8,000 tonnes.

The FMC also lower position limits on rapeseed and soyoil by 22 percent and 33 percent respectively.

Rapeseed output is estimated to drop 12.6 percent to 6.03 million tonnes in the current year to June, a trade body said last month.

The chairman of the FMC had told Reuters last week the regulator was considering plans to rein in speculation, which led to suspension of trade in guar seed and gum futures.

Powered by THE ECONOMIC TIMES