コメ本上場が優先課題　堂島商取、株式会社化を決議

　大阪堂島商品取引所は２９日、臨時総会を大阪市内で開き、４月１日付で株式会社に移行することを決議した。初代社長に内定しているＳＢＩホールディングス顧問で前金融担当相の中塚一宏氏が記者会見し、当面の経営課題として主力商品であるコメ先物取引の本上場を挙げ、優先的に取り組む意向を示した。
　コメ先物は２０１１年、取引期限付きの試験的な形で復活した。しかし、ＪＡグループが利用に慎重姿勢を示すなどしたため、取引が低迷。期限のない本上場を果たせず、試験期間は異例の１０年近くに及ぶが、来年８月にその期限を迎える。
　中塚氏は「本上場に移行できるよう努力する。できるだけ早く黒字体質にしたい」と強調。また「生産者のための先物市場でないといけない」と述べ、ＪＡなど生産者の意見を入れて、商品設計を見直すほか、ＪＡ側に出資や役員派遣も要請したい意向を表明した。
　ＳＢＩは大阪・神戸への国際金融センター誘致構想を打ち出し、堂島商取をその中核にする方針だ。将来はコメ先物に加え、金融商品を幅広く扱う総合取引所に格上げする考えで、中塚氏は「日本取引所グループ（ＪＰＸ）に比肩する取引所を目指したい」と語った。（2020/12/29-17:26）

The Osaka Dojima Commodity Exchange at an extraordinary meeting of its members on Tuesday decided to transform itself into a stock company on April 1 next year.
   At a press conference held on the day in the western Japan city of Osaka, where the exchange is located, Kazuhiro Nakatsuka, who is set to become its first president upon the conversion, said that he will now focus on realizing the full-fledged listing of rice futures, a major challenge for the exchange.
   The predecessor of the Osaka Dojima exchange revived rice futures trading in 2011, albeit temporarily and on a trial basis, after a hiatus of over 70 years. Trading has been sluggish, however, mainly because the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, or JA, group is reluctant to participate. The trial listing is set to end in August 2021.
   "We'll make efforts to switch over to full-fledged rice futures trading," Nakatsuka said, adding that he hopes to move the exchange into the black as early as possible.
   The Osaka Dojima exchange "must be a futures market for agricultural producers," Nakatsuka also said, showing his plans to review its listed futures products by incorporating the opinions of producers, including the JA group, and request the JA group to invest in and dispatch executives to the exchange. Nakatsuka was former financial services minister and now serves as adviser to major online financial service firm SBI Holdings Inc. .