PMEX May Start Agriculture Products Trading
As the futures trading of precious metals continues at the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX), it may start the first trading of agricultural products in coming months.
Khurrum Zafar, CEO PMEX, here on Monday said that all necessary formalities related to trading of rice, maize and sugar have been completed.“The trading of rice is scheduled for the coming months and the sugar will be at the counter from next quarter,” Mr Zafar added.
He was addressing the gathering of all relevant stakeholders, and invited the banks as well as the traders of Islamabad and surrounding region to invest in the commodities at the regulated and modern platform.
He added that the 125 years old ‘mandi’ based system should be converted to a modernised setup operating in a digital ecosystem.
“We need to create the impact upon the lives of the farmers, who suffer from the price distortion cycles,” CEO PMEX said.
The PMEX has already negotiated the terms with dealers and sugar mills for the futures trading of sugar at the mercantile exchange, while the two raw agricultural products are maize and rice to be launched at the PMEX platform soon.
PMEX is Pakistan’s only SECP-licensed and regulated commodity futures exchange and any app, group, or individual offering trading outside this framework is unregulated, while trade only through PMEX-licensed brokers was the legitimate option.US plans to expand agriculture trade with Pakistan
While speaking at the occasion Zahid Latif, director PMEX said that price discovery and hedging would help all concerned in the supply chain from the farmers to consumers.
He however stressed that Pakistan needed accredited warehousing so that traders at a remote location can trust the quality of the produce without physical examination. Formed in 2002, the PMEX became fully operational in 2007 to be the Pakistan’s only regulated futures exchange.
With 22.5-hour trading, an average daily volume of Rs50 bn, it has more than 240 TRE Cerficiate Holders and over 80 licensed futures brokers.