Rosario Futures Exchange (Rofex) has asked for central bank approval to trade Argentine debt futures, ie, external debt sold by Argentina after the 2001 default.

“The spot market for bonds is already working in Argentina, therefore the contribution that the futures represent bears great potential,” says Mario Hallberg, chief executive officer of Rofex.

As far as agriculture is concerned, Rofex handles soy, wheat and maize futures. Exporters and banks make up 90% of the client base for foreign exchange futures contracts, says Hallberg.

“Although the peso doesn’t move, there are enough grounds to justify the strategy of covering trade against currency movements,” Hallberg says. “Deifinitely this is not a product with extreme volatility.”

The central bank policy of keeping the peso fixed at three to the dollar has kept the currency unmoved.

This year, Rofex signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dalian Commodity Exchange of China.

On the MoU, Hallberg says: “Those who buy soybeans or soy meal in South America, who are mostly the Chinese, need more precise hedging tools and we therefore sought to set up the MoU with Brazil ‘s Bolsa de Mercadoria & Futuros (BM&F) and Dalian.”

Euro and Brazilian real contracts are effective and Rofex is working to shore up demand for them, says Hallberg. Rofex is controlled by Bolsa de Comercio de Rosario.