In 2018, overall turnover at the Saint Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) as well as volume traded in the SPIMEX refined products and timber markets grew year-on-year. The Exchange launched new products – both spot and futures - and broadened the list of designated delivery points.

The annual turnover at SPIMEX grew 21.1% year-on-year up to RUB 924 bn. Over the year the number of Trading Participants grew from 2,169 up to 2,199.

The volume traded in SPIMEX Refined Products Section (refined products and petrochemicals) was equal to 19.973 million metric tonnes (+6.7%) in the amount of RUB 656.866 bn. The volume traded by product was as follows: Gasoline Premium-95 – 2.693 million metric tonnes (MMT); Gasoline Regular-92 – 5.647 MMT; diesel – 6.685 MMT; jet fuel – 1.804 MMT; fuel oil – 1.808 MMT and LPG (a 46.1 % rise y-o-y) – 1.092 MMT.

The volume traded in SPIMEX Natural Gas Section amounted to 15.134 bcm (-25.6 % YoY) with the turnover amounting to RUB 48.430 bn. The Month-Ahead market amounted for 12.493 bcm while Day-Ahead deals (including those for delivery on national holidays and weekends) – for 2.641 bcm.

The volume of crude oil traded by the SPIMEX Group was equal to 1.007 MMT (down from 1.321 MMT in 2017), including 0.179 MMT traded in SPIMEX Crude Oil Section with the turnover amounting to RUB 4.299 bn. The volume of procurement procedures held over the year at the TORG-i electronic trading platform operated by SPIMEX was equal to 0.828 MMT.

The volume of timber traded by the SPIMEX Group was equal to 1.388 million cubic meters, including in SPIMEX Timber and Construction Materials Section: 173,137 cubic meters of round timber (with the turnover of RUB 488 mn) and 19,032 cubic meters of processed timber products (RUB 136 mn), i.e. 12.8 times more than in 2017. The volume traded over the year on TORG-i electronic trading platform stood at 1.196 million cubic meters (RUB 753 mn).

The volume traded in SPIMEX Derivatives Section amounted to 40,970 futures contracts in the total amount of RUB 13.83 bn, including 37,244 cash-settled futures for indices (in the amount of RUB 1.72 bn), 2 091 physically-settled futures on refined products traded in the domestic market (RUB 5.26 bn) and 1,638 SPIMEX Urals Crude Futures (FOB, Primorsk) contracts (RUB 6.84 bn).

SPIMEX is authorized to register OTC transactions for a number of exchange-traded commodities. In 2018, volumes set in the relevant contacts and the number of such OTC transactions (primary and secondary markets together) were broken down by product as follows*: refined products: 438,000 transactions with the total volume of 302.9 million metric tonnes (MMT) (including LPG – 70.300 transactions and 13.4 MMT); crude oil: 16,400 transactions and 530 MMT; natural gas: 22,600 transactions and 1,470 bcm; coal: 64,600 transactions and 693.8 MMT; grain: 38 transactions and 0.1 MMT. In 2018, the number of companies which registered their OTC transactions with SPIMEX grew from 317 up to 346.

In 2018, the amount of obligations cleared by SPIMEX under the trades effected in its Refined Products, Timber and Construction Materials and Crude Oil Sections amounted to RUB 861.79 bn. At the end of 2018, SPIMEX rendered clearing services to 1,191 clearing members.

The amount of obligations cleared in 2018 by SDCO clearing house under the trades effected in the SPIMEX Natural Gas Section amounted to RUB 48.4 bn (number of clearing members – 1,226) and the trades effected in the SPIMEX Derivatives Section equaled to RUB 27.7 bn.

Over the year TEK-Torg electronic trading platform - a subsidiary of SPIMEX - conducted approximately 66 thousand procurement procedures (a 2.3 fold rise y-o-y) in the total amount of RUB 2.085 trillion (a 7% rise).

The following events defined 2018 for SPIMEX:

• January 2018 - signing of memoranda of understanding between SPIMEX and Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SHPGX) and SPIMEX and Shanghai OTC Commodity Derivatives Association (SOCDA);
• September 2018 - ICBC Bank (JSC), a Moscow branch of the ICBC group, became a settlement bank of SDCO clearing house and SPIMEX to be able to operate in the SPIMEX futures market for Russian exported crude oil;
• at the turn of 2017/18 the SPIMEX Group acquired SDCO clearing house;
• May 2018 - SPIMEX celebrated its 10th anniversary;
  September 2018 - SPIMEX marked 10 years since the launch of trading in refined products;
• June 2018 – first test trades in the run-up to the proposed creation of a common power market of the Eurasian Economic Union;
• July 2018 – the launch of the physically-settled SPIMEX Regular-92 Gasoline Futures contract (designated delivery point: railroad station Allaguvat);
• July 2018 – setting of the small-scale wholesale segment earmarked for low-volume trades;
• August 2018 – SPIMEX joined the International Commodities and Derivatives Association (ICDA);
• October 2018 – SPIMEX and S&P Global Platts signed memorandum of understanding to develop new oil benchmarks;
• October 2018 – launch – at the initiative of Gazprom Mezhregiongas - of the physically-settled SPIMEX LPG Futures contract;
• November 2018 – volume traded in the timber market of the SPIMEX Group exceeded 1 million cubic meters.

• In 2018, SPIMEX signed business cooperation agreements with the following constituent regions of Russia:

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    • the regional government of the Udmurt Republic and the Agency of the Russian Far East for Investments and Exports Promotion;
    • the regional government of the Primorsk Krai and the Agency of the Russian Far East for Investments and Exports Promotion;
    • the Tomsk Oblast;
    • the regional government of the Khabarovsk Krai and the Agency of the Russian Far East for Investments;
    • the Buryat Republic;
    • the Arkhangelsk Oblast;
    • the Altai Krai;
    • the Krasnoyarsk Krai;
    • the Republic of Karelia;
    • the Amur Oblast;
    • the Ulyanovsk Oblast.

• In 2018, SPIMEX arranged or co-arranged a number of industry-specific and other events:

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    • October 2018 – parliamentary hearings in the State Duma (the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament) on competitiveness promotion in the Russia’s commodity market;
    • Round Table at Russian Energy Week-2018 devoted to pricing mechanisms in the global crude oil market;
    • 3^rd International Annual Forum ‘Russia’s Commodities Market 2018’;
    • SPIMEX acted as a partner to the National Timber Forum held during the year in six cities all over Russia.

• In November 2018, SPIMEX drafted new version of the Rules of Organized Trading in a number of its sections; the SPIMEX Rules of Admission to Organized Trading and the SPIMEX Clearing Rules. The relevant amendments shall make the Russian on-exchange commodity market (first of all its fuel segments) more stable. On 24 December 2018, the Bank of Russia registered the new version of the in-house regulations listed above.

Saint Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) is the largest Russian commodity exchange which offers a wide range of products traded both in its Commodities Sections (refined products, crude oil, natural gas, LPG, timber and construction materials) and in its Derivatives Section. The Exchange’s key task is operating a transparent price formation mechanism to ensure fair prices for the commodities produced in Russia. SPIMEX was incorporated in 2008.

* Data on OTC transactions is given as of 14 January 2019 reflecting the time required for registration of the deals made at the very end of 2018.