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NCDEX To Relaunch Steel Futures Contract On January 18

The steel contract will trade long steel products such as ingots and billets.
The steel contract will trade long steel products such as ingots and billets.

The National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX) will relaunch the Steel Futures contract on Monday, according to a release issued by the exchange.

At the start, contracts will be available for the months expiring in February 2021, March 2021 and April 2021. With this launch, the first in 2021, NCDEX has reentered the non-agricultural space expanding the range of derivative products.

Vijay Kumar, managing director and chief executive officer, said, “India is on the cusp of an exponential growth in infrastructure sector due to government impetus on making the country a $5 trillion economy in the coming years. As a result, the consumption of steel is likely to take a quantum leap ahead. As price of steel is a major component of total cost in many infra-projects, developers find it difficult to manage the volatility in steel prices in absence of an appropriate hedging platform in the country. The steel contract being launched by us will provide these entities a reliable and transparent risk management tool to hedge against volatile prices.”

The steel contract will trade long steel products such as ingots and billets having a trading unit of 10 mt. The base centre will be Gobindgarh in Punjab while Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh will be the additional delivery centre.

India's per capita consumption of steel rose at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.43 per cent from 46 kg in FY08 to 74.10 kg in FY19. According to the Indian Steel Association, steel demand is estimated to grow 7 per cent in FY20 and FY21.