News & Events

33 % Growth in Trading Volumes Recorded by DME in 2014
Monday, January 12, 2015

19,936,000 barrels of Oman crude oil traded on DME in 2014 compared to 1,600,918,000 barrels in 2013

Dubai, 12 January 2015 - The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, registered an impressive performance in 2014, posting- a 33 per cent growth in trading volumes 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. In December, DME average daily volume (ADV) was 6,975 lots (7.0mn bl), which was 9% up year-on-year. Physical delivery for February loading was 11.6mn bl while EFP/EFR (Exchange for Risk) volumes were 7.8mn bl.

“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.”

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. 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, Inc. (TOCOM) and with Bank of China.

2014 Performance Highlights:

Record Volume Traded: 14,873 on 25th November 2014. Previous high was 14,282 on 26th February 2014

Record Window Volume: 6,511 on 26th February 2014. Previous high was 5,951 on 12th February 2014

Overall DME Record ADV: 10,764 in February 2014. Second high was 9,334 in April 2014

Record Physical Delivery: 18,355 in March for May 2014 delivery. Second high was 17,238 in April for June 2014 delivery

For more information, please contact:

Mayssam Hamadeh - Head of Marketing mayssam.hamadeh@dubaimerc.com or +971 506523754

Walid Majzoub - TRACCS (PR agency) on walid.majzoub@traccs.net or +971 509448389