DME (Dubai Mercantile Exchange) today announced record average daily trading volumes ("ADV") of 10,764 lots in February 2014, equivalent to almost 10.764 million barrels of crude oil per day. February’s total is 84% higher than February last year and is a 32% increase on the previous month.
The surge in trading volume has seen daily volumes crossing more than 10,000 contracts (10 million barrels) in recent times driven by the presence of an increasing and diverse customer base made up of oil producers, refiners, trading companies and financial players, such as banks, hedge funds and proprietary traders. The presence of so many customers and the high trading activity levels ensure fair pricing for buyers and sellers of Oman crude oil.
During February, Idemitsu Kosan joined the Exchange as a Trading Member becoming the first Japanese refiner to do so. Highlighting the exchange’s efforts at providing the best possible trading environment for its users, the DME and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) also announced a joint initiative in February aimed at issuing letters of credit for trading on DME directly from Singapore.
Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman of the DME, said: "Customer confidence in the DME value proposition from a price discovery and transparency standpoint and the rapidly expanding customer base is translating into exponential growth in trading volumes and yet another record month for the DME. The exchange is now on a sustained growth curve driven by its unique ability, a distinctive competitive advantage, of accurately capturing the price formation of eastern trade flows, and the rapidly growing interest from customers in gaining exposure to the increasing demand for crude oil from the East of Suez markets.
For more information, please contact:
Mayssam Hamadeh - Head of Corporate Communications mayssam.hamadeh@dubaimerc.com or +971 506523754
Walid Majzoub - TRACCS (PR agency) on walid.majzoub@traccs.net or +9714 3672530
