The launch of the Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) today after a six-year delay is positive news for investors in the country.

The GCX will provide an opportunity for farmers to be able to deliver produce in a standardised manner and have their monies paid to them on time. The Exchange will provide warehousing services and would require market participants to make deposits in accounts before they can trade. This will make settlement of transactions transparent and more reliable.

Even more, the existence of the exchange will provide benchmark prices for commodities that the rest of the market can rely on when they trade. We will also be able to have a measure of the demand for, and supply of, commodities in the economy as we see the fluctuations in prices.

The addition of the GCX to the investment options available to Ghanaians is also welcome. I hope to see capital flow into trading on the exchange and providing much needed revenue and liquidity to farmers. This would also give investors a standardised, well-structured, transparent and risk-managed option to invest in agricultural commodities as opposed to the various schemes being offered by some private farms.

If you want to trade on the GCX, you can start with these forms.