OREANDA-NEWS. March 22, 2011. On March 21, 2011 FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, and Saint Petersburg Exchange saw a record high in trading volume in futures contract on raw sugar.

At the end of the trading day on RTS the turnover in raw sugar futures amounted to 6,793 contracts with a total value of USD4.265 million (RUB121 million). The previous record was fixed on February 4, 2011, when the turnover reached 6,564 contracts with a total value of USD4.970 million (RUB141 million) .

The recently introduced futures contract on wheat was also active with large trading volume driven by  increasing volatility  on global markets.  Market participants executed 80 trades with a combined value of USD423 thousand (RUB12 million) representing 1,545 contracts.

"Volatility levels are increasing on food commodity markets and according to many analysts this growth is related to potential food deficits. Therefore, the RTS commodity futures market is becoming an attractive venue for producers and consumers to hedge and for private investors to invest in this important asset class", comments Evgeny Serdyukov, Director of the Futures & Options Market at OJSC RTS.

Trading in cash-settled futures contract on raw sugar was launched on FORTS on October 25, 2010. The symbol of the contact in the trading system is (SUGR). The underlying asset of the contract is raw sugar which is the main raw material for the production of sugar.

Trading in cash-settled futures contract on wheat was launched on March 15, 2011 within the framework of the joint project between RTS Group and Saint Petersburg Exchange. The symbol of the contact in the trading system is (GR). The on-exchange indicator on wheat calculated on the basis of a price of Wheat futures traded on Chicago Board of Trade (part of the CME Group) is used as the settlement price for the contract.

FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, is the leading trading venue for futures and options in Russia. Trading on FORTS started in September 2001. According to the Futures Industry Association the derivatives market of RTS is among the TOP-10 global derivatives exchanges based on the results of 2009. At present FORTS has the widest range of instruments in Russia. These are 54 contracts (40 futures and 14 options) on RTS Index, RTS Standard Index, shares of Russian companies, short term interest rates, currency, oil, gasoil, power, gold, silver, and sugar.