Market News & Headlines >> CFTC Reopening Position Limit Comment Period

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Monday that it had moved to reopen the comment period for its proposed rule on position limits on agricultural commodity futures/options, in anticipation of questions arising from a scheduled Dec. 9 meeting of its Agricultural Advisory Committee.

The public meeting of the Agricultural Advisory Committee will consider, among other matters, deliverable supply and exemptions for bona fide hedging positions.

According to the notice that will appear in the Federal Register on Wednesday, Dec. 3, the comment periods for the CFTC’s “Aggregation Proposal” and its “Position Limits Proposal” will reopen on Dec 9 and close on January 22, 2015, a period of 45 days.

The notice also states that “comments should be limited to the following issues as they pertain to agricultural commodities: hedges of a physical commodity by a commercial enterprise; and the process for estimating deliverable supplies used in the setting of spot month limits”.

The CFTC originally published notice of its “Position Limits Proposal” in the Federal Registry on Dec. 12, 2013. The proposed rule would establish speculative position limits for 28 exempt and agricultural commodity futures and options contracts and physical commodity swaps that are economically equivalent. Notice of the “Aggregation Proposal” was originally published on Nov. 15, 2013 to amend existing regulations setting out the Commission’s policy for aggregation under its position limits regime.