Bank of Russia approves first national commodity index
The NAMEX Wheat Index, which is calculated by JSC National Mercantile Exchange every business day at the end of the trading session, has become a pilot price indicator. It represents the price of a ton of wheat with delivery to the seaport of Novorossiysk.
For market participants, the index is a benchmark which they can use to address their business tasks and launch price risk hedging instruments. It can also be used for regulating commodity markets.
The index calculation quality was assessed jointly with representatives of Russian agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, and the Ministry of Finance.
The Bank of Russia participates in the development of domestic pricing in the commodity market and the creation of a system of national indices which would replace foreign ones. The regulator considers the market value of goods determined at the end of trading sessions on exchanges and in trading systems (on-exchange trading), as the key and most reliable source of information for calculating price indices.
Based on the example of the first index, the Bank of Russia will prepare its proposals for developing an interagency assessment mechanism and submit them for discussion to the Government of the Russian Federation.