LONDON SOFT FUTURES ADOPT NEW CLEARING PROCEDURES
London's soft futures markets, namely
cocoa, coffee and sugar, are adopting with immediate effect a
uniform presentation on their respective open positions
referring to previous day's trading figures, a spokeswoman for
the London Commodity Exchange (LCE) said.
    The figures represent total clients' long positions as well
as short positions, plus the net house positions as submitted
by all members for each delivery month, she said.
    As a result, figures will differ from those previously
published but are hoped to be more accurate and to compare more
favourably with other international markets, she added.
    Since the introduction of a revised clearing procedure last
October, which incorporated a system of "mark-to-market',
figures as published bore little relationship to the true open
position, the spokeswoman said.
    The open position for business done up to the previous
trading day is prepared daily by the International Commodity
Clearing House (ICCH) and then posted on the various market
notice boards.
 REUTER
