COMMODITY exchange market is expected to start operations in Tanzania in June, next year, officials told the 'Daily News' in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday.

The Capital Market and Securities Authority (CMSA) Chief Executive Officer, Ms Nasama Massinda, said that a special committee headed by the Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office has been set up to fast-track the matter. "The committee will monitor the roadmap for the creation of the commodity market and speed up the process," Ms Massinda said.

"June 2014, looks as a positive and systematic date for the commodity exchange to go into operation," she expalined. President Jakaya Kikwete, the pioneer of the commodity market, said recently that the exchange would provide a marketplace where buyers and sellers meet to trade and be assured of quality, delivery and payment.

Mid-last year, the president toured the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) to get first hand information on how the facility works. According to CMSA, the Tanzania's exchange will initially trade in four commodities, namely cashew nut, coffee, cotton and rice.

Currently, the four crops are being traded under the warehouse receipt system. The exchange is designed, among other things, to include a trading floor, warehouse delivery locations and price tickers. Experts in agro-business have it that the exchange is designed to liberate farmers by exposing them to reliable market environments locally and abroad.

Last year, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) called for bidders for consultants to provide legal and regulatory framework and design a robust trading system. BoT said bidders have been given the task of "reviewing existing legal and regulatory framework for warehouse receipt system, cooperative and crop bodies and commodity trading."