Us-based ETF provider Van Eck Global has reduced the expense ratio on its Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF (HAP). Investors in the fund will now pay 0.49% per annum, as opposed to 0.59% previously.

Van Eck has lowered the expense ratio on its commodity-focused Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF

The reduced expense ratio is capped contractually until at least 1 May, 2013. As is typically the case, interest expense and certain other expenses are excluded from the expense cap. The gross expense ratio for the fund is 0.63%.

“HAP is a broad-based ETF that can serve as the core of any natural resources investment allocation,” said Jan van Eck, President of Market Vectors ETF Trust. “We expect the reduced pricing will make HAP a more attractive option for long-term investors seeking comprehensive exposure to the world’s largest and most prominent hard assets producers and distributors.”

Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Rogers-Van Eck Hard Assets Producers Index (ticker: RVEIT). The index, developed in concert with Jim Rogers, is a rules-based index which gives investors a means of tracking the performance of a global universe of listed companies engaged in the production and distribution of hard assets and related products and services.

The fund’s top five holdings include Exxon Mobil, Monsanto, Potash Corp, Deere & Co and Syngenta, while the top five sectors are Materials (40.2%), Energy (39.6%), Consumer Staples (9.7%), Industrials (5.4%) and Utilities (3.4%).

HAP is one of 12 hard assets ETFs in the Market Vectors family, which also includes funds focused on specific segments of the hard assets markets such as Agribusiness ETF (MOO), Coal ETF (KOL), Global Alternative Energy ETF (GEX), Gold Miners ETF (GDX), Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ), Oil Services ETF (OIH), Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (REMX), Solar Energy ETF (KWT), Steel ETF (SLX), Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF (FRAK) and Uranium+Nuclear Energy ETF (NLR).