Kenya agricultural commodities exchange to go live in 2024

The anticipated launch of Kenya's agricultural produce exchange is set for February next year, as announced by the Ministry of Trade and Investment. The Kenya National Multi Commodities Exchange (Komex) is slated to initiate mock trading on January 29, 2024, and officially commence operations on February 26, 2024.

The primary goal of the Komex project is to facilitate regulated access to structured trading of diverse commodities, offering market information, access to domestic and international markets, trade finance, and support services for sector regulators and participants along the value chain (such as farmers/producers, aggregators, traders, consumers, and processors).

This commodities exchange will function as an online marketplace where buyers and sellers can engage in trade with the assurance of quality, timely delivery, and secure payment. The instruments available at the exchange will initially include spot trading in commodities, with plans to introduce derivatives trading such as futures, options, and index trading at a later stage. The sectors covered will span agriculture, metals, minerals, and energy before expanding into currencies and other asset classes.