Now Reading: NCDEX launches India’s first steel scrap futures contract
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NCDEX launches India’s first steel scrap futures contract
The Story in Brief
The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) launched India's first steel scrap futures contract on 11 November, using the internationally recognised HMS 80:20 grade. The cash-settled contract has a trading unit of 10 metric tonnes, a maximum order size of 500 tonnes, and a tick size of ₹10 per tonne, with Ex-Mandi Gobindgarh in Punjab as the basis centre.
The launch follows an MoU between NCDEX and BigMint Technologies, which will provide the price benchmark under an IOSCO-compliant framework. NCDEX managing director and CEO Vikas Goel said the contract fills a gap in managing price risks in a market where domestic scrap generation rose 22% year-on-year to 32 million tonnes in FY2026-27, even as ferrous scrap imports fell 20%.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Both CNBC-TV18 and The Hindu Business Line cover the NCDEX steel scrap futures launch as a routine market development, attributing identical details, the HMS 80:20 grade, the BigMint partnership, the cash-settled 10-tonne contract, and quoting the same NCDEX executives. There is no editorial divergence either outlet leads with, the only difference is that CNBC-TV18 adds a longer explainer of how the contract helps steelmakers, billet manufacturers, and sponge iron producers hedge, while Business Line frames the product as the 'first-ever PRA-based futures contract'. Both give uniform straight reporting. The implications lie in the contract itself: by linking to an IOSCO-compliant price benchmark, NCDEX addresses the fragmented domestic scrap market, where generation rose 22% year-on-year to 32 million tonnes in FY2026-27, making a hedging tool timely as imports fell 20%.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): cnbctv18.com (neutral report), thehindubusinessline.com (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
