Clarification

This refers to the news item published on May 09, 2016 in Business Recorder titled PMEX: The Road Backwards. Arif Habib Commodities as a top broker at PMEX would like to bring to the attention of the readers that there were certain matters in the news item which we feel need a full context and also that a lot of positives were the team at business recorder needs to cover.

"For clarity on the issues quoted, we would like to advise that these were mostly historical issues which have over the time been rectified. We would also like to mention here that any trading platform globally is based on technology which does go through some issues and the same also takes place even in other exchanges but no such issue materially impacted the day to day operations of our business today.

"We appreciate the recent introduction of currency contracts and completion of red chilli pilot trade. This is silver lining for the overall spectrum of commodities exchange and its investors at large.

"On the positives, we would like to advise that PMEX has always been on an upwards trajectory with progress witnessed continually. This can be seen from the fact that today PMEX offers a much wider product base in all respects and also plans to expand the product offering in the coming months. The Exchange system has over the years evolved and now offers connectivity to third party trading applications such as MetaTrader which is at par with international standards. PMEX should be commended to the fact that they have since inception provided a front end trading platform which exchanges globally do not offer.

"The progress of PMEX can also be ascertained from the fact that the daily traded volume on the Exchange is growing steadily, UIN base is increasing - both our trade volume and UIN bases has doubled in the last two years, they provide free of cost daily / monthly research reports, provide free of cost trainings to brokers and clients as and when required and they have developed a dedicated customer support team which addresses all client complaints throughout the day.

"Having said the above, there is still a lot that needs to happen and the factors that would define the future growth of PMEX would entail:

* Elimination of the gray market which is creating an uneven playing field for the law abiding market participants.

* Increase awareness of PMEX products among the masses especially the industry that can effectively use the Exchange to hedge against the price risk.

Arif Habib Commodities is confident that the management at the Exchange and their vision will further blossom PMEX to its full potential."