JFX to open in July

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Futures Exchange (JFX), the country's first commodity futures exchange, will begin trading on July 1 next year, the exchange's president Hasan Zein Mahmud said on Friday.

"We will complete all the preparations before July 1 next year," Hasan said after the exchange's first extraordinary shareholders' meeting.

Hasan said the preparations included the installment of the trading system, writing up the contract documentation for the traded product and finalizing the trading rules and regulations.

"We have actually completed the draft rules and regulations of the exchange. It should be approved by Bappebti (the exchange's supervisory agency) soon," he said.

JFX, which in its initial stage will trade Crude Palm Oil and coffee, has an authorized capital of Rp 40 billion (US$5.7 million) and paid-up capital of Rp 11.6 billion.

The establishment of JFX is based on the 1997 Commodity Futures Exchange Law, while its operational guidelines are expressed in the 1999 government regulation No. 9 on the commodity futures exchange. (udi)