Together with the Moscow Stock Exchange, VTB Capital developed the first grain delivery futures in Russia. Wheat delivery futures contracts start trading on the Moscow Exchange's futures market on 21 December 2020. VTB Capital will act as the main market maker under the contract.
The new tool will be of interest to various categories of market participants: agricultural producers, processors, grain exporters, as well as banks, brokers and their customers.
The futures are quoted in roubles per ton of Grade 4 wheat. The contract volume is 25 tons. The contract provides for the delivery of wheat in March, September and December to grain elevators in the Voronezh region. Rossoshan Elevator and Povorino Grain Storage will serve as registered grain elevators for the start of the trading. There are plans to expand the list of grain elevators in the future.
Atanas Dzhumaliev, Head of Global Commodity Markets Operations: 'The launch of wheat delivery futures is an important step in the development of the Russian derivatives market. Russia is a major producer and consumer of grain, so we decided to launch a contract with local delivery. That said, we expect that in the future, the deliverable futures will also be of interest to large global players looking for additional risk hedging opportunities. We now continue to work on developing our infrastructure and expanding our client base, and we are confident that VTB Capital's international experience and expertise in the financial and grain markets will allow us to create a liquid contract that will become the key indicator of Russian wheat prices, both in Russia and abroad.'
Vitaly Sergeychuk, CEO of Demetra-Holding LLC: 'The launch of such a tool is an important step for the development of the entire industry. The use of futures will allow producers, exporters and domestic consumers of Russian wheat to obtain transparent pricing and reduce the cost of finding and checking contractors. I hope that in the future the instrument will be in demand and will compete with foreign trading platforms for pricing in the wheat market.'
Igor Marich, Member of the Management Board—Managing Director of Sales and Business Development, Moscow Exchange: 'Russia is the world's largest grain exporter and Russian wheat plays an important role in balancing the global grain market. Nevertheless, Russia still lacks a uniform price benchmark for grain. We hope that the new futures contract will serve as such a benchmark and provide grain market participants with a convenient and reliable mechanism for hedging price risks.'
