Effective use of Derivative Tools for Price Risk Management in Base Metals

Faridabad (Haryana), February 9, 2016: Aimed at disseminating in-depth knowledge about the derivatives market and its benefits among SMEs and MSMEs, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX), Religare Commodities, and Integrated Association of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises of India (IamSMEofIndia) jointly organized an educational seminar on February 8, 2016 in Faridabad (Haryana).

This comprehensive seminar gave the participants an overview about the commodity futures market, benefits of hedging, importance and need for risk management measures, advantages of trading on a regulated commodity exchange platforms, and the regulatory perspective.

While making a presentation on price risk management to the members of IamSMEofIndia, Mr. Sanjay Gakhar, Vice President-Business Development, MCX said, “Hedging is absolutely critical for stabilizing incomes of organizations and individuals in today’s environment of persistent high volatility in commodity prices. Hence, in an increasingly globalized and competitive market, it is important for base metal stakeholders to manage their price risks through commodity futures contracts.”

Mr. Himanshu Arora, an analyst with Religare Commodities, gave a macroeconomic view on commodities and currencies. He also touched upon the important fundamental factors that impact the base metals segment.

Ms. Rashmi Nihalani, Assistant Vice President-PKMT, MCX said, “Increasing transparency of exchange traded prices and MCX’s efforts to disseminate awareness about commodity futures will definitely improve the use of commodity derivatives as the tool of risk management and thereby making it necessary for all participants to manage their raw materials price risks.”

“MCX offers efficient base metals futures trading platform that can be used by the base metal value chain participants to manage their risks. Further, while base metal futures traded on the Exchange platform have a high correlation with the international prices, the contracts are traded in Indian rupee. Hence, the currency risk is mitigated while hedging on MCX platform, avoiding the risk encountered in hedging on international platforms”, she stated.

Thanking MCX for organizing the interactive seminar for its members, Mr. Rajiv Chawla, Chairman, IamSMEofIndia said, “I truly appreciate MCX’s commitment towards spreading financial literacy and awareness on commodity futures market in India by educating the SMEs and MSMEs through such programmes.”

“Considering the volatility in base metal prices, SMEs confronted with increasing and persistent uncertainty in raw material prices need to recognize the criticality of commodity price risk management as an essential part of their business operations”, Mr. Chawla added.

The seminar witnessed a strong participation from the members of IamSMEofIndia and the queries put forward by them were effectively answered by the experts.