Water to Be Traded Among other Commodities in Wall Street

For the first time, water is included on Tuesday among the other basic commodities that are traded on global stock exchanges.

The American Wall Street Stock began trading water, along with gold, oil and other commodities.

US Bloomberg News reported that the plans of trading water became known in September of this year when wildfires and heat caused massive damage to the West Coast of the United States.

More than 3 billion people suffer from high levels of water shortage and scarcity, as a result of reduced available freshwater resources, which have decreased globally by more than 20% per capita over the past two decades.

The agency specialized in economics added that these trades will give away to protect heavy water consumers, such as farmers and electric power industry investors, from fluctuations in water prices.

It also said, "This means that consumers will be able to hedge against higher water prices."

The water trades will be linked to the NASDAQ Felice California Water Index, which was launched in 2018, which an indicator that measures the weighted average price of water.

The futures trades will be financially settled instead of requiring the actual physical delivery of the water, and the contracts will include quarterly contracts through 2022, each representing 10 acres of water.

At the end of last month, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations "FAO" said in a new report, that more than 3 billion people live in agricultural areas suffering from high levels of water scarcity.

The main FAO report indicated that available freshwater resources have decreased globally by more than 20% per capita over the past two decades.

The report stressed the importance of producing more water with fewer resources, especially in the agricultural sector, which is the largest water-using sector in the world.

Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the United States FAO Organization said that " With this report, the organization is sending a strong message that water shortages in agriculture must be addressed immediately and boldly if we are to take our pledge to achieve the SDGs seriously."