Draft Action Plan towards developing organized exchange trading with agricultural products is presented to the expert community

The Plan shall be coordinated with the market participants and the interested ministries and departments within a month

On 4 April 2017, the Exchange Committee of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) discussed exchange trading with agro-industrial products.

The Committee considered the first results of applying a mechanism of exchange trading with grain and sugar and is going to form a Sub-Committee on food products at the exchange Committee.

Participants mentioned that futures contracts are the most attractive for the agricultural and food products markets. Developing the futures markets at this stage, however, is impossible without developing the spot market.

The Committee also discussed a Draft Action Plan towards developing organized exchange trading with agricultural products. It includes, in particular, measures designed to stimulate involvement of food products producers and consumers in exchange trading to ensure their liquidity.

As stated earlier by Deputy Head of FAS Andrey Tsyganov: “Exchange trading with food products is aimed at shaping price indicators that, on the one hand, help the authorities to make the correct regulatory decisions, and on the other – form a long-term vision for agricultural producers as well as processing actors as to what can happen with the prices for their products. Well-balanced investment decisions will be made on this basis which is very important for such sector as the agro-industrial complex”.

Head of the Department for Regulating the Markets of the Agro-Industrial Complex, at the Ministry of Agriculture, Vladimir Volik, emphasized that the Ministry supports expediency of launching exchange trading with agricultural products.

Summing up, Deputy Head of FAS Anatoly Golomolzin asked the participants – representatives of food product companies and sectoral associations to put forward their proposals to the draft Plan. He clarified that then the draft Plan will be forwarded for approval to the interested federal executive bodies and the Bank of Russia. “Within a month we should coordinate and adopt the Action Plan to develop organized exchange trading with agricultural products to start implementing it as soon as possible”.