Brief History

Futures Exchanges have been around in many countries for more than 200 years. Being aware of the local business community's need of hedging on the trading risks, the Indonesian government has been trying to establish the futures exchange since the early 1990's. Aside from fulfilling the business need and lowering the amount of futures trades channeled abroad, the exchange's existence will help to protect local investors from being cheated.

The benefit of establishing a local exchange through which Indonesian business entities can hedge their risks has been confirmed by various studies commissioned by the Indonesian government. Recognizing that the benefits far outweigh the anticipated cost, the Indonesian government submitted a bill for approval to Parliament in 1996 which was signed into law on December 5, 1997 as Act No. 32/1997.

is the first exchange established under this law. was established on August 19, 1999 by 4 palm plantations, 7 refineries, 8 coffee exporters, 8 securities companies and 2 general traders. Of the 40 billion capital authorized, capital paid-up was Rp. 11.6 billion. fulfills all the requirements as stated by the Act. Jakarta Futures Exchange has been licensed to operate and held a soft opening on December 15, 2000.

Although it is possible that there can be other Futures Exchanges under the Act, in line with the international trend of merging exchanges, it is improbable that there will be another exchange allowed. JFX will in all likelihood, as the only Futures Exchange in Indonesia.

The Exchange is designed as a multi-commodity Futures Exchange. The first two contracts, Olein Futures Contract and Robusta Futures Contract, will be followed in due time by Cocoa Futures, Pepper Futures, Rubber Futures, and Plywood Futures. Financial futures contracts, including Gold, are also very much in the plan of JFX.