Liffe says it will launch a range of soft and agricultural commodity products on its Bclear OTC derivatives service in the first quarter of 2009.

Liffe says it will launch a range of soft and agricultural commodity products on its Bclear OTC derivatives service in the first quarter of 2009.

Commodity products will join the individual equity, index and credit default swap products offered by Bclear, which was launched in 2005.

An exact launch date will be announced in due course.

Garry Jones, executive director of business development and strategy at Liffe, says: 'This is a significant expansion of Bclear. It responds to the growing demands from our commodity customers for the development of services for on-exchange trade administration and, through post-trade clearing, reduces operational risk and manages the counterparty credit risk involved in doing business in the soft and agricultural commodities OTC market.'

Bclear will initially offer cash-settled swap futures and options priced against the benchmark Robusta coffee, cocoa and white sugar contracts already traded on Liffe.

It plans to expand the range of commodity products available on Bclear to encompass further soft and agricultural commodity swaps and options with flexible maturities and other products as required.