CME Group Receives Regulatory Approval for Changes to Wheat Contract
CHICAGO, Dec 04, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ --
CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse derivatives exchange, announced today that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has given regulatory approval for changes to its world benchmark Soft Red Winter Wheat futures contract. The changes, which include seasonal storage fees and additional delivery points, are designed to improve convergence between wheat futures and cash prices at contract expiration.
CME Group requested approval of the changes from the CFTC based on input from market participants, including commercial firms, grain elevator operators, individual traders, proprietary trading firms and others. The approved changes include the following:
-- Changes to the storage rates include introducing seasonal storage charges to be increased during the period from July 18 through December 17 to 8 cents per bushel per month. During the remainder of the crop year from December 18 through July 17 storage charges will remain at their current level of 5 cents per bushel per month.
-- Three new delivery territories will be added to include: shuttle train loading facilities in a 12-county area of northwest Ohio; barge loading facilities on the Ohio River from Cincinnati to the Mississippi River; and barge loading facilities on the Mississippi River from south of St. Louis to Memphis. The northwest Ohio locations will be added at a 20 cent per bushel discount; Ohio River locations at par; and Mississippi River locations at a 20 cent per bushel premium.
-- Finally, the exchange is lowering the vomitoxin level for par delivery from three parts per million (ppm) to two ppm. Wheat containing three ppm of vomitoxin will continue to be deliverable at a 12 cent per bushel discount and wheat containing four ppm of vomitoxin will continue to be deliverable at a 24 cent per bushel discount.
The seasonal storage rate and additional delivery locations will be implemented beginning with the July 2009 wheat contract and the lower vomitoxin level will be implemented with the September 2011 contract.
For more information, please see the exchange's Special Executive Report http://cmegroup.com/rulebook/rulechanges.html or the filing at http://www.cftc.gov.
CME Group (http://www.cmegroup.com) is the world's largest and most diverse derivatives exchange. Building on the heritage of CME, CBOT and NYMEX, CME Group serves the risk management needs of customers around the globe. As an international marketplace, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together on the CME Globex electronic trading platform and on trading floors in Chicago and New York. By acting as the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer, CME Clearing virtually eliminates counterparty credit risk. CME Clearing also offers $7 billion in financial safeguards to help mitigate systemic risk, providing the security and confidence market participants need to operate, invest and grow. CME Group offers the widest range of benchmark products available across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. CME Group is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol "CME."
The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group, Globex and E-mini, are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange, and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group and its products can be found at http://www.cmegroup.com.
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SOURCE CME Group
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