* Exchange to go live in January
* Sees annual trade hitting $500 billion after 1 year
By Richard Lough
ANTANANARIVO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A state-of-the-art commodities and currency exchange will go live in Mauritius in mid-January, offering a local platform for investors worldwide eyeing Africa's rich resources.
Joseph Bosco, deputy managing director of Global Board of Trade (GBOT) that will operate the exchange, told Reuters on Thursday 14 commodities, including precious metals, base metals and agricultural commodities, would be traded.
He said it would be Africa's first international multi-asset derivatives exchange and six dollar-based currency pairs would also be traded -- including the Mauritius rupee, euro, yen, sterling and Swiss franc
"Investors are moving into this part of the world and what we are giving them is an international hedging platform," Bosco said in a telephone interview.
The African continent is the world's most impoverished region, but commodity-hungry economies such as China and India, as well as food-scarce nations in the Gulf, are increasingly eyeing investment opportunities in so-called frontier markets.
"Africa is very rich in agri-commodities. Within the next decade, it is going to be feeding the rest of the world," Bosco said. "And it is so rich in minerals. The whole world will be looking to Africa by 2020."
GBOT's main promoter is India's Financial Technologies, a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.
The operating company expects to trade futures contracts in zinc, copper, aluminium, nickel, gold, silver, platinum, coffee, sugar and maize as well as crude oil and carbon credits. Bosco said they were looking to add options contracts in due course.
CHEAPER TRANSACTION COSTS
Mauritius has positioned itself as a bridge between Africa, India and Asia and Bosco expects brisk business from take off.
He said the company was talking to four or five potential market makers in Britain. He is also expecting some 100 brokers from India to set up offices in Mauritius and start trading.
"During the second year we'll see annual trading in commodities worth at least $250 billion and another $250-$300 billion worth of currency trading," he said, referring to the underlying value of the contracts.
Those figures will double by the end of 2012, he said.
Bosco plans to offer new contracts starting at $20,000-$25,000 meaning a lower margin upfront.
"If an African investor wants to take a position on base metals he has to go to the London Metal Exchange or New York's Intercontinental Exchange where the contract size can be very large, $50,000 or even $200,000, and that deters them so they just keep quiet."
Bosco said brokers in Kenya, east Africa's largest economy, complained that vigorous admission formalities to Western markets meant they were often forced to play second fiddle as sub-brokers, subjected to high charges and unfavourable terms.
Mauritius is consistently one of Africa's best performing economies, politically stable with a highly-educated workforce and in a time zone that allows daytime business with Asia and America.
"Africa is going to be the centre of the universe in the next 10 years," he ventured optimistically. (Editing by David Clarke and James Jukwey)