The three products - diammonium phosphate (or DAP, which is 18 percent nitrogen and 46 percent phosphate), urea (46 percent nitrogen), and urea ammonium nitrate (or UAN, which is 32 percent nitrogen), together have combined annual sales of $4 billion to $6 billion in the U.S. Over the past five years the price variability of the commodities underlying the contracts has ranged as high as 50 percent.
The contracts will be sized at 100 tons each, and will be listed with expirations in March, May, July, September and December. The minimum price movement will be $0.50 per ton. Expiration will be on the last business day prior to the 16th calendar day of the contract month. Options on futures will expire on the first Friday of each contract month. The contracts will trade on CME’s GLOBEX system Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. the following day. Trading on expiration day will cease at 12 noon.
The contracts call for physical delivery from the seller’s choice of origin to the buyer’s destination, using rail based transportation paid for by the buyer, which replicates the practice of the underlying cash markets.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is the largest futures exchange in theUnited States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments in 2003 and managed $38.1 billion in collateral deposits at March 31, 2004. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000® Index.
Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which can be obtained at its Web site atwww.sec.gov. CME undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME, the globe logo and GLOBEX are registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Further information about CME and its products is available on the CME Web site at www.cme.com.
