What is the reason for the sharp fall in commodity market volumes in the last few months since the beginning of this year 2020?

Indian commodity exchanges reported a sharp fall in commodity derivatives volumes on account of the Covid-19 pandemic spreading across the country. Between February and May the daily average turnover in commodity futures trading slumped by almost 38%. MCX reported its daily average turnover (DAT) at Rs.15,658 crore in April 2020; the lowest since 2013. One reason could be the fiasco in crude oil futures where the negative settlement price led to huge losses for long traders. The closure of factories also reduced hedging requirements of SMEs. While MCX has shown some recovery in May, the volumes in the NCDEX continue to remain under pressure. One more reason lower volumes could be the reduction in trading time for many commodities.