agriculture

Trading on Baisa sets new record

Trading increased by 35 percent on the local exchange, thanks mainly to maize, rice and dairy.

Agricultural products aren’t the only thing you can trade on Baisa. Used cars showed up last year.

LA PRENSA

results: The valueof trading agricultural and other products reached $153,643,960 in 2007.968315

The high price of agricultural products on the international market pushed up the numbers on the Bolsa Nacional de Productos, S.A.(Baisa) to a new record in 2007.

Abelardo Carles, manager of Baisa, acknowledged that 2007 "was a good year for the commodities market," with trading volume reaching $153,643,960, or $40,125,171 more than in 2006. That figure reflects an increase of 35%.

The market was bound to perform well, according to Carles, considering the prices for the three products that have historically been the most traded, including maize (360,660 metric tons), rice (more than 2 million quintales) and dairy products (8,413,000 metric tons).

Prices for those products increased significantly during the last year owing to the higher cost of oil, which drove up production costs.

Another factor was a deal authorized by the government involving 2 million quintales of rice to be set aside as part of a quota to cover shortages in 2008.

The exchange's record-setting performance does not reflect an increase in volume, though, as Carles explained, but rather the high cost of agricultural products.

The Ministro de Desarrollo Agropecuario, Guillermo Salazar, says that producers' interest in selling on the exchange has grown, and that more are joining all the time.

In addition to the three leading commodities, pork, onions, tomato products, agricultural supplies, plantains, potatoes, porotos, yucca, avocadoes, garlic, beans, cucumbers, and other goods are also traded on the exchange.

Baisa was founded in 1997 and its first transaction was recorded in 1999. Last year, used cars were traded on the exchange for the first time. "By law, Baisa was equipped for trading all kinds of goods and services, with the exception of stocks. Contrary to what many people think, you can buy or sell anything here, not just agricultural products," Carles said.

If the volume of trading goes up with prices this year, the exchange is likely to set another new record.

The Instituto de Mercadeo Agropecuario (IMA), used Baisa to buy the first 100 quintales of Compita brand rice that entered the country last year, but, according to Carles, "since the IMA buys are regulated by a special law, it is not obligated to use the exchange, in which case they would have to pay a percentage on each transaction when the idea for these products is to offer them to the consumer at the lowest price possible."

In the case of maize and rice, Baisa charges 0.125 percent (12.5 cents for every $100). For everything else traded in volume, it charges 0.5 percent (50 cents for every $100).