■About the Bio Energy Index (BEI)
- Background of BEI’s development
The growth of the world economy in recent years has produced an increase in the demand for energy.As well as causing a sharp increase in oil prices, this also has a large impact on environmental issues such as global warming and air pollution.
All around the world, countries are working on the development of new“green”energy sources in order to meet the rising demand for energy while minimizing the impact on the environment.
For example, bio-ethanol is already being used as automobile fuel in the United States and Brazil, and is receiving attention from around the world as growing new industry.
Kansai Commodities Exchange (KEX) has developed and announced the BEI as a standard index of international bio-ethanol prices in order to contribute to the development of the bio-ethanol market and to raise awareness about the global environment.
- Location of BEI
Since December 2006, KEX has developed BEI with the cooperation of Osaka University.
BEI is a commodity index calculated from the prices of agricultural products which are the raw materials for bio-energy.
However, rather than being a simple price index of agricultural products, BEI is an index calculated to estimate the level and fluctuation of international bio-energy prices.
For the time being, by considering the state of its supply and demand, bio-ethanol has been used as a representative value for bio-energy.
It is intended the BEI will be used as a benchmark for financial institutions’ capital operations and funds relating to bio-energy and raw agricultural materials in the future.
■Method of calculating BEI
BEI is calculated using the follows method.
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