A group of the world's biggest exchanges have welcomed European Union proposals to narrow the scope of trading limits in the commodity derivatives markets, paving the way for the revision of rules that the industry complained had hurt its ability to introduce new products.

In response to the European Securities and Markets Authority's latest consultation on the matter, which ran from November to early January, a number of exchanges welcomed the regulator's proposal to restrict so-called commodity position limits to benchmark commodity derivatives, which are more heavily traded and established.