National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE), a national commodity bourse, has been permitted by the Forward Markets Commission to launch rubber mini contracts for up to 5 tonnes from next month in order to increase the participation of small traders. NMCE currently offers futures trading in rubber contracts with a maximum trading unit of 100 tonnes.
The traders can trade a maximum quantity of up to 5 tonne as per the contract specification of rubber mini contract and the delivery centres have been designated at Cochin and Ernakulam. FMC expects NMCE to take steps in order to ensure hedgers’ participation in rubber mini contracts.
India is the second largest producer and fourth largest consumer of natural rubber. It produces and consumes about 0.9 million tonne natural rubber. The synthetic rubber production and consumption in the country is around 1.10 lakh tonnes (LT) and 4.44 LT, respectively.