The Singapore Mercantile Exchange will launch the world’s first international black pepper futures contract on Feb. 10, the exchange said on Friday, reported Reuters.

SMX, owned by India’s Financial Technologies (FITE.NS), is introducing more products to boost liquidity in its commodity and currency contracts since it launched in August 2010.

The black pepper contract, SMX’s first agricultural product, will be deliverable from a bonded warehouse in Vietnam, the world’s largest producer of the commodity, SMX said in a statement.

 

Industry officials in India, which trades pepper futures on its domestic commodity exchanges that bar foreign traders, earlier said SMX’s planned pepper contract could become a benchmark for the agricultural commodity if it becomes sufficiently liquid.

 

SMX said in December it was also looking to launch other base metals futures contracts such as aluminium, zinc, lead and nickel this year, in addition to its current line-up that includes copper, WTI and Brent crude oil, gold, silver, iron ore and currencies.