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DECEMBER 2008, Issue 15
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Welcome to December's newsletter. In this month's issue:-
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· NYSE EURONEXT - sign Memorandums of Understanding with two Chinese Exchanges
· CME GROUP - launches Plastics Futures Contracts
· TOCOM - commences Platinum Mini Futures Trading
· RTS - to launch Platinum and Palladium Futures Contracts
· EU REACH - Pre-Registration Deadline - ECHA Statistics
· ISO - ISO 9001:2008 Standard Published
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NYSE EURONEXT - SIGN MOU'S WITH TWO CHINESE COMMODITY EXCHANGES
NYSE Euronext recently announced that it has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with two Chinese commodity exchanges, namely:- Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) with a view to developing derivative markets both locally and globally. Under the terms of the MOUs, the exchanges will be able to explore opportunities for information sharing, IT technology and product design.
The DCE was established in 1993 and currently trades Corn, No. 1 Soybean, No.2 Soybean, Soy Meal, Soy Oil, RBD Palm Olein and Polyethylene (LLDPE) futures. The ZCE was established in 1990 and currently trades:- wheat, cotton, white sugar and rapeseed oil.
Both Chinese exchanges are recognised by the State Council of the People's Republic of China. For more information, please go to:-
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CME GROUP -COMMENCES TRADING IN TWO PLASTICS FUTURES CONTRACTS
CME Group launched on 2 November 2008 (trade date 3 November 2008) two plastics futures contracts for Polypropylene and Polyethylene on its NYMEX ClearPort Trading Platform. Each contract will be listed for 24 consecutive months, beginning with the January 2009 contract month and will be 47,000 pounds (21.3188mt) in size. Physical delivery will take place in the Houston area.
Product Specifications are as follows:-
Polypropylene:-
· Homopolymer general purpose injection moulding grade. Nominal melt flow rate 12 (-2/+3). Without additives such as slip and anti block.
Melt Index: 12 (-2/+3 g/10min (ASTM Method D1238)
· Homopolymer general purpose injection moulding grade. Nominal melt flow rate 20 (+/- 3) No additives.
Melt Index: 20 (-5/+7 g/10min (ASTM Method D1238)
· Homopolymer general purpose fiber ("raffia") extrusion grade. Nominal melt flow rate 3.5 without additives.
Melt Index: 3.5 (-0.6/+1.0) g/10min (ASTM Method D1238)
Polyethylene
· Polyethylene of High Density blow moulding grade. Melt Flow rate 0.30 (-0.02/+0.05). Density 0.95 (0.05/+0.05) No additives.
For more information, please go to:-
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TOCOM - COMMENCES PLATINUM MINI FUTURES TRADING
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange commenced trading of its cash settled Platinum Mini Futures Contract on 10 November 2008.
The Contract specification is as follows:-
· Fineness:- Platinum of Minimum 99.95%
· Contract Size:- 100g (approximately 3.216 troy ounces)
· Minimum Price Fluctuation:- JPY 1 per gram
TOCOM's existing physically delivered Platinum Futures Contract has a contract size of 500g (approximately 16.08 troy ounces).
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RTS - TO LAUNCH PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM CONTRACTS
The Russian Trading System Stock Exchange is planning to launch Platinum and Palladium Futures Contracts in 1Q 2009. These contracts will add to the existing Gold and Silver contracts offered by the Exchange.
It is anticipated that the contract size will be 1 ounce. Contracts will be quoted in US Dollars and cash settled in roubles. The final settlement price will be the morning platinum or palladium London fix at the settlement day.
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EU REACH - PRE-REGISTRATION - ECHA STATISTICS
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) reported last week that its pre-registration workload had increased significantly as the first critical deadline, 1 December 2008, for REACH Regulation approached.
Its REACH-IT system, handling the volume of registrations, was working at maximum capacity. For example, the system was handling 75,000 pre-registrations daily via bulk and online submission. Some 47,000 companies were now signed up, submitting, in total, over 2 million pre-registrations.
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ISO - ISO 9001:2008 NEW STANDARD PUBLISHED
On 14 November 2008, The International Organisation of Standardisation (IS0) published the latest edition of its ISO 9001 quality management system standard, ISO 9001:2008 entitled "Quality Management System - Requirements".
Please note that the new edition contains no new requirements compared with the 2000 edition. It provides clarifications to the existing requirements and introduces changes intended to improve consistency with the environmental management system Standard, ISO 14001:2004.
The new standard is available on the ISO website together with an introduction and support package of documentation explaining what the differences are between ISO 9001:2008 and the 2000 version.
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