Commodity exchange turnover slips marginally to Rs 41.45 lakh crore in Q1

Turnover of commodity exchanges fell marginally to Rs 41.45 lakh crore in the April-June quarter this fiscal year due to a drop in trading volumes of bullion and farm items, according to the Forward Markets Commission (FMC).

Exchanges had made a business of Rs 41.71 lakh crore in the same period last year.

Except for energy futures, trading volumes in farm items, gold, silver and industrial metals remained lower in the said period, commodity market regulator FMC said in a statement.

Experts and analysts attributed the fall in trading volumes in the first quarter of this fiscal to the lack of volatility in the commodities futures market. They said commodities have been trading weak across the world.

According to the FMC, turnover from energy items like crude oil increased by 32 per cent to Rs 10,45,990 crore during the April-June period, as against Rs 7,96,112 crore in the same period last year.

However, the business from agricultural commodities declined by 27 per cent to Rs 3,67,711 crore from Rs 5,01,866 crore, while the turnover from bullion fell by six per cent to Rs 19,38,548 crore from Rs 20,57,394 crore in the review period.

Similarly, the turnover from metals like copper fell by 3 per cent to Rs 7,93,213 crore durign April-June of fiscal year 2013-14 from Rs 8,16,428 crore in the year-ago period.

Currently, there are 22 commodity bourses in the country, of which six operate at national level.

Total turnover of these bourses had dipped to Rs 170.46 lakh crore in the 2012-13 fiscal from Rs 181.26 lakh crore in the previous year.