The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, has posted a 33 per cent growth in trading volumes in 2014 to average 8,431 lots per day.

Over 160 different traders from more than 90 entities traded on the DME in 2014 – the broadest level of participation ever recorded.

During the year, DME set records in every aspect of the DME Oman contract with record daily and monthly volumes, record physical delivery, record EFP (Exchange Futures for Physical) activity, and record open interest in addition to record marker windows.

“Our performance in 2014 reflects the success we have had in providing a mature and fully transparent price discovery mechanism for industry participants,” said Christopher Fix, chief executive of DME.

“Our consistent growth in volumes can also be attributed to the confidence of global players in the DME value proposition which has been boosted by measures that we have taken to enhance our trading platform.

“The global oil markets have never been more volatile and so the need for quality benchmarks and hedging mechanisms have become even more imperative. Our impressive performance and our ever increasing roster of members from Asia is a definite sign that the DME Oman is the undisputed crude oil benchmark in Asia,” he added.

A key focus last year was to make trading on the DME easier for customers and so the Exchange allowed Letters of Credit (LCs) to be issued from Singapore and Tokyo with participating banks SocGen, RBS, Rabobank and Mizuho, said Fix.

The exchange also introduced Trade at Marker (TAM) functionality and revised the duration required for LCs.

The DME also made major strides in increasing the number of market participants in 2014 in order to expand its presence globally. The exchange welcomed four new trading members -Marubeni, Idemitsu, Mitsui, Itochu - in addition to attracting four new clearing members, namely GH Financials, Advantage Futures, Phillip Capital and Straits Financial.

The DME also initiated several strategic agreements in 2014 to support the development of energy trading benchmarks within Asia which would act as a natural complement to the DME Oman crude oil contract.

The exchange signed agreements with the Shanghai International Energy Exchange Corporation (INE) to strengthen cooperation in promoting the development of crude oil futures. An agreement was also signed with Korea Exchange (KRX), the leading North Asian equities and derivatives operator, in addition to an agreement with Tokyo Commodity Exchange and with Bank of China. – TradeArabia News Service