NEW DELHI, Oct 8: Leading agri-commodity bourse NCDEX today said soyabean futures on its platform are “well regulated” and the allegations that unscrupulous operators are rigging prices are “presumptive and misconstrued.”
The exchange also said the soyabean prices in the near month contracts are in fact quoting lower than the spot prices.
“These allegations are presumptive and misconstrued. The contract is well regulated and has wide participation of varied value chain participants,” NCDEX said in a statement.
The regulatory framework of the exchange along with stringent trade limits and margins ensure transparent and fair price discovery, the statement added.
The futures prices on the exchange platform are a reflection of the underlying physical market demand supply fundamentals, it added.
According to the NCDEX, soyabean prices in the near month contracts were quoting lower at Rs 3,690 per quintal on October 6, lower than Rs 3,781 per quintal in the spot market.
It also said, “the open interest on the platform is approximately 2 lakh tonnes, which is barely two per cent of the estimated crop size, which further refutes the argument of futures trade leading spot prices.”
Last week, the Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) approached capital markets regulator SEBI demanding ban on futures trading in soyabean seeds and also alleged that unscrupulous operators were rigging prices of the commodity, affecting the processing industry.
As per the government’s first advance estimate, soyabean production is estimated to increase to 11.83 million tonnes in the 2015-16 kharif season, as against 10.52 million tonnes in the year-ago period. But the SOPA has projected 8.6 million tonnes output.
Currently, the country has soyabean crushing capacity of 25 million tonnes, much higher than the domestic availability. (PTI)
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