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Mecklai Financial in tie-up with ED & F Man

Mecklai Financial & Commercial Services has signed a "non-exclusive introducing broker agreement with ED & F Man International Limited to provide Indian corporate clients access to international futures exchanges to hedge commodity price risk.

The agreement covers a spectrum of commodities: soybean oil and meal, palm oil, coffee, sugar, cotton, paper pulp and fertilizers. The pact does not cover hedging on the London Metal Exchange.

As a result of the recommendations of the R V Gupta Committee, Indian corporations are now permitted to access international exchanges to hedge their commodity price risk using certain specified instruments and with certain operational constraints.

Man International is one of the leading commodity brokers in the world and part of the British ED&F Man Group Plc. "We believe that the combination of Man's market access and execution skills and Mecklai's customer network and risk management skills will bring an added dimension of balance and strength to Indian commodity players," a statement from Mecklai said.

Mecklai is the leading risk management company in India, having pioneered the concept of analytical decision making in the domestic foreign exchange market nearly 30 years ago.

Mecklai currently advises nearly 1,000 Indian corporate customers on how to manage risk arising out of their exposure to forex, interest rate and commodity markets.

Mecklai Commodities was set up last year as a division of Mecklai Financial to focus on the growing needs of the commodity sector.

In addition to providing training programmes to corporations and financial institutions on commodity price risk, Mecklai Commodities has also consulted with various domestic commodity exchanges as well as the Forward Markets Commission on structural issues confronting the domestic commodity trade. More information is available from K N Dey (commodities@mecklai.com).

The agreement is expected to make Mecklai Financial an agent for ED&F Man and a broker for soft commodities.

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