China, India, Russia and Partners Establish International Commodity Exchange
The commodity exchanges of Russia (St. Petersburg Exchange), China, India, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan signed a declaration on the establishment of the International Association of Commodity and Futures Exchanges at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
"Eliminating trade barriers, simplified access to promising markets, expanding the circle of business partners, additional trading and marketing tools – these are the benefits our clients will receive," said Alexander Osmolovsky, Chairman of the Board of the Belarusian Universal Commodity Exchange (BUCE), describing the advantages of the new association, as reported by Kommersant.
According to a press release, the association is expected to become a key platform for cooperation between the commodity and futures exchanges of the member countries of the Eurasian Union (EAEU+), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the BRICS+ group.
Special emphasis will be placed on the implementation of a project to form an international pricing agency, aimed at establishing a system of fair price benchmarks for key commodities, reports B92.
In addition to BUCE and the St. Petersburg Exchange, the declaration was signed by the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange of India, the Asia-Europe International Trade Center from China, the Iran Commodity Exchange, the Eurasian Trade System Exchange from Kazakhstan, and the Uzbek Republican Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange.
The development of organized commodity markets within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is entering a new phase, stated Igor Artemyev, President of the St. Petersburg Exchange. Earlier in March 2025, the exchange officially restored its historical name – the St. Petersburg Exchange – and during the recent period modernized its strategy, launched its own information-analytical platform SPX, and strengthened cooperation with Kazakhstan through the ETS exchange.
The St. Petersburg Exchange positions itself as a leader in the integration of Eurasian commodity markets, and through the new association, the SPX platform, and the national pricing body, a foundation is being built for its own pricing infrastructure and deeper regional economic cooperation.
As Artemyev announced earlier this month to Forbes, the goals of the International Association of Commodity and Futures Exchanges are to become the main platform for dialogue and cooperation among exchanges, to enable experience and information sharing, to develop common standards and methodologies, to improve trading transparency and liquidity, and to strengthen the role of commodity exchanges in the regional economy – through analytics, price indicators, and cooperation with regulators.
Artemyev emphasized the importance of independent market information sources in light of external pressure and sanctions. To this end, a National Exchange Pricing Agency Body was established to develop representative price indicators and analytics for specific sectors, using data from actual transactions (both exchange and over-the-counter) and relying on the SPX platform to disseminate information.
The St. Petersburg Exchange is the largest commodity exchange in Russia and one of the largest spot exchanges in the world, key to the stability and transparency of Russian commodity and financial markets. In 2024, the trading volume reached 2.337 trillion rubles (about 30 billion dollars), representing a 31.9% increase compared to 2023.
