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The Minneapolis Grain Exchange (Exchange or MGEX) closed 2007 with record calendar-year volume, monthly volume and membership values. The Exchange broke its all-time calendar-year trading volume with 1,826,807 contracts traded, which is 10-percent higher than the record set in 2006 (1,655,034 contracts traded). December trading volume set a new record with a 46-percent increase in trading over the previous December record set last year (130,797 contracts traded versus 89,817 contracts traded). In 2007, seven of the 12 months set new monthly volume records. Membership values are another example of falling records with a membership trading on December 28 at the new record price of $285,000, an increase of 396 percent from the 2006 record of $72,500. Memberships were trading below $20,000 just 2 ½ years ago.
Open interest at the Exchange is also significantly above last year’s levels. Total open interest at the end of December was 68,277 contracts, a 37-percent increase over the end of December 2006 (49,861 contracts).
“The MGEX has been evolving very quickly over the past two years,” Mark G. Bagan, President and CEO of the MGEX said. “We had one of the most profitable years in the history of the MGEX in 2007. We had record trading volume, our open interest is at record levels and the occupancy rate in our real estate operations is at its highest level in five years. This has all contributed to record numbers in both our 2007 fiscal year and the 2007 calendar year. We expect continued growth in our Hard Red Spring Wheat contract along with our five financially settled agricultural index contracts to achieve more record increases in 2008.”
