Kochi: Online futures trading in coffee has been launched for the first time in the country to help small and medium coffee growers through stability and efficient price discovery.

Online coffee futures trading was now available at the country''s first Multi Commodity Exchange through a Geojit terminal.

Geojit, a joint venture with Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, was a leading financial and commodity markets intermediary listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Speaking on the occasion, Forward Markets Commission chairman S Sundaresan said the move had made it clear that international price movements would primarily drive the Indian coffee market and fluctuations were the order of the day.

Since most of the coffee growers were in small and medium segment, price risk management was increasingly becoming important. With the new online trading all contracts were standardised (with delivery months and locations, quantity and grade) with only the price being negotiable.

This would ensure more stability and allow for efficient price discovery, said.

National Multi Commodity Exchange of India (NMCE) managing director Kailash Gupta said addition of coffee for trading was among the most traded and volatile commodities. '''' We see small holders gaining tremendously with access to actual market prices from the trading terminals set up in their own backyards,'''' he added.

Geojit managing director C J George said education programme on coffee would be launched in the heartland where the crop was grown on the similar lines of those done to promote trading of pepper and rubber in Kerala. The online facility would provide a common platform for coffee growers and trading terminals would be provided in over 100 places, he added.