Moscow Exchange, Demetra-Holding and the UGC Group signed a cooperation agreement for development of on-exchange trading, price indicators and derivative financial instruments in the grain market.
The official agreement signing ceremony was held during the forum "Exchange market for Russian agricultural products: main areas and development prospects" at "Russia" exhibition site. The ceremony was attended by Yury Denisov, Chairman of the Management Board of Moscow Exchange, Alexey Gribanov, General Director of Demetra-Holding LLC, and Dmitry Sergeev, General Director of UGC JSC.
The key areas of cooperation will include promotion of commodity and derivative trading among agricultural market participants, promotion of exchange price indicators when making over-the-counter contracts, as well as popularization of commodity trading and attracting new traders.
Yury Denisov, Chairman of the Management Board of Moscow Exchange PJSC:
"Moscow Exchange has strong competencies in developing exchange infrastructure and creating new financial instruments. We use this knowledge and experience to develop the Russian commodity exchange market in close cooperation with its participants. The UGC Group and Demetra-Holding are major customers of commodity auctions on the basis of which wheat index is calculated.
The trilateral cooperation that we have entered into today will make it possible to improve our efforts to achieve a common goal – the development of a transparent, competitive and widely available agricultural exchange market."
Alexey Gribanov, General Director of Demetra-Holding LLC:
"The current infrastructure of the global grain market is outdated due to significant changes in the market environment. Currently, BRICS countries are the key participants in the grain market. Russia has become a major player, which accounts for one fifth of all wheat exports. Our global objective is to create our own trading and clearing infrastructure, and the agreement signed with our colleagues will be an important step on a great way forward."
Dmitry Sergeev, General Director of UGC JSC:
"The UGC Group is actively involved in the development of the Russian grain exchange market. This is one of our priorities. In 2021, we initiated the launch of wheat purchase and supply auctions on the National Mercantile Exchange, which set the stage for other important and high-demand commodity exchange instruments. Involvement of more new participants, bolstered liquidity and enhanced price representativeness should be ensured to drive continuous development of exchange trading in future. The agreement signed today is aimed at pursuing these objectives."
Currently, the National Mercantile Exchange (member of the MOEX Group) hosts commodity auctions of the UGC Group and Demetra Trading with the CPT Novorossiysk Wheat Index as the underlying asset for cash-settled futures contract traded on the Moscow Exchange.