Operations
From deposit to delivery, every step is regulated
Warehouse receipts, trading, the Depository Registry, and clearing & settlement — the full operating cycle of ZAMACE — the Zambian Commodities Exchange.
Warehouse Receipts
The commodity enters the market as a graded, receipted deposit.
- Depositors deliver to a ZAMACE-certified warehouse where the commodity is inspected, tested, graded and weighed against national standards.
- A Goods Received Note is issued at intake and converted into an electronic Warehouse Receipt (eWR) in the depository.
- Receipts are negotiable instruments: they can be traded, transferred, split, or pledged as collateral for financing (M09/M10).
- Quality certification and assay follow Schedule VI of the ZAMACE Rulebook.
Trading
Three mechanisms, one order book discipline.
- Auctions — English open-outcry with reserve, run to the published auction calendar with a pre-auction clearance checklist for every bidder.
- Continuous market — the central limit order book matched by the ZAMACE engine with price-time priority, circuit breakers and market surveillance.
- ATS marketplace — a bid/offer board for negotiated trades, including offers placed directly on warehouse receipts.
- The forward market aggregates demand and supply by delivery month for planting-season certainty.
Depository Registry
One registry of who owns what, always current.
- Zambia has no external central securities depository — ZAMACE operates the Depository Registry internally and is the registry of record for warehouse receipts.
- Every eWR lives in the Depository Registry — the single record of ownership, custody, pledges and transfers.
- During an auction the receipt is held in the ZAMACE Settlement account; on settlement it is split and assigned to winning buyers automatically.
- Receipts are cancelled on physical delivery, closing the loop between the electronic record and the commodity in the warehouse.
Clearing and Settlement
Delivery versus payment, guaranteed by the clearing house.
- Trades are novated to the ZAMACE clearing house, which becomes buyer to every seller and seller to every buyer (M12).
- Buyers post an initial deposit before trading; full payment and commissions settle on a T+2 cycle through the settlement bank.
- Funds and receipts move together — delivery versus payment — with ISO 20022 payment instructions end to end.
- A guarantee fund and default waterfall protect the market against a participant failure.
ZAMACE Framework
The market architecture behind every trade.
- A 22-module exchange architecture spanning identity & KYC, commodity master, trading, warehousing, collateral, clearing, settlement, logistics and surveillance.
- Regulated under the ZAMACE Rulebook (2026) with maker-checker controls, audit trails and real-time market surveillance.
- Open interfaces: the same platform powers the trading dashboard, this website, USSD access for farmers, and the ZAMACE mobile app.
The ZAMACE Platform
Operations run on one integrated platform — trading dashboard, market data, warehouse systems, USSD for farmers and the ZAMACE mobile app. See every application, who uses it, and how to get access.
Explore the Platform