OREANDA-NEWS  On 11 December was announced, that the Regional Financial Centre of Almaty City (RFCA) and OJSC "Russian Trading System" Stock Exchange have set up a commodity exchange, JSC "Eurasian Trading System" headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The new exchange is 60% owned by RTS and 40% by RFCA, with the total authorized capital of USD 533,000.

Trading on ETS is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2009. The new commodity exchange is a trading floor for spot and derivatives trading in commodities. Initially, futures contracts on wheat and fuels will be launched.

The volume of trading in wheat on ETS in 2009 is expected to reach 1-1.2 mln. tons, 2.5-3 mln. tons volume is likely to be seen for gas oil and 2 – 2.5 mln. tons volume for black oil trading. There are also plans to launch a local commodity index and an index-linked futures contract at the next project stage.

Both end consumers of the commodities and stock and commodity brokers of the Russian and Kazakhstan markets can participate in trading on ETS.

Establishing an exchange of this kind with the involvement of RFCA clearly demonstrates to the regional and global players the commitment of Kazakhstan to the declared strategic priorities, remarked Arken Arystanov, Chairman of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on regulation of activities of the RFCA.

RTS Technology and IT platforms coupled with our expertise in establishing commodity markets and exchange trading will enable us to found an efficient commodity exchange where transparent prices for relevant commodities will be discovered, said Roman Goryunov, RTS CEO.