Indonesia's futures exchange to begin trading in August
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's first future commodities exchange will begin operation in August this year after several delays in its opening.
The president of state-owned commodities clearing house PT Kliring dan Jaminan Bursa Komoditi, A. Djunaidi, said here on Thursday preparations for the operation of the futures exchange were completed.
The futures exchange will be called Indonesia Future Exchange (IFEX) and will have its trading floor at the Menara Kadin building in South Jakarta, he said.
"IFEX will be legally established by the public notary in mid- May," he said on the sidelines of a seminar on the outlook for futures trading in Indonesia.
PT Kliring, which operates as the clearing house for the existing commodities exchange, is one of the main sponsors of the futures exchange.
Other sponsors include the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters (AEKI) and the Federation of Indonesian Vegetable Oil and Fat Associations (FAMNI).
The opening of the futures exchange initially was scheduled for the beginning of 1998 but was delayed several times.
The country's futures exchange is based on Government Regulation No. 9/1999, which sets the operational guidelines for the exchange as mandated by the 1997 law on futures exchange.
In addition, Presidential Decree No. 12/1999 states that palm oil and coffee can be traded on the exchange.
When the exchange is fully operational, the Indonesian Commodities Exchange Agency, which presently runs the commodities bourse, will act as the supervisory board for trading activities on the country's futures and conventional commodities. The supervisory board will be under the management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Under the 1999 government regulation on the IFEX, the bourse needs at least 11 members before it can be established.
"To date there are about 30 companies who have registered to be IFEX members," Djunaidi said.
He said each company wishing to join the exchange was required to pay Rp 250 million (some US$31,250) in equity capital.
"Some Rp 2 billion has already been collected from those companies who applied and already paid their equity capital," he said.
Djunaidi said coffee producers paid their equity capital through AEKI, palm oil producers paid through FAMNI and other interested companies paid through PT Kliring.
"When the IFEX is established before the notary public in the middle of this month, the equity capital from those companies which applied to join the exchange must be paid," he said. (udi)