KCBT members say one reason for the swell in volume was increasing market participation from end-users who are trying to price their needs in light of good milling quality U.S. hard red winter wheat versus poorer quality elsewhere in the world. There has been an extension of coverage into the Spring months as a result.
The wheat futures contract is virtually assured a new annual volume record as only 76,132 contracts need to be traded during December to set a new annual record. The previous annual volume record of 2,738,536 contracts was set in 2002. The contract has already exceeded the total volume of 2,632,032 traded in 2003.
Total exchange volume continues to run ahead of last year’s pace, posting a .4 percent increase at the end of November. Total exchange volume through November, 2,906,521, is currently in third place when compared to end-of-year tallies throughout exchange history. The record of 3,326,836 was set in 2002. The second-place record of 3,099,804 was set just last year.
The Kansas City Board of Trade, chartered in 1876, is the world's largest futures market for hard red winter wheat.
Open interest measures the number of open trading positions in a market. Each KCBT wheat futures contract represents 5,000 bushels of wheat.
