NYBOT March Volume Up 16% YTD

Futures and options volume at the New York Board of Trade® (NYBOT®), the world’s leading “soft” commodities exchange, posted a first quarter gain of 16% year-to-date (YTD) in 2005 over the first three months of 2004. The Exchange total volume reached 9,547,466 combined futures and options contracts through the end of March 2005.

Also during March, the Exchange successfully launched its new Pulp futures and options contracts (symbol P), which have experienced substantial trading volumes and open interest. The contract trades from 7:55 am to 9:00 am (NY Time).

Individual product highlights through March 2005 (all YTD) include:

• The NYBOT Russell 1000® Index options (symbol R) have seen a considerable rise in volume of 63%. Volume in the U.S. Dollar Index® futures contract (symbol DX®) is up 17%. Total currency futures are also up 18% and total Index options are ahead 39%.
• NYBOT’s cocoa futures (symbol CC) have climbed 22%, and cocoa options (symbol CO) are up 97%. --Sugar No. 11SM futures (symbol SB) are running ahead of 2004 by 19%, and the options (symbol SO) are up 15%.
• The Cotton No. 2SM (symbol CT) futures contract has recorded a 16% increase.
• The Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice futures contract (or FCOJ, symbol OJ) is up 9% and the options 87%.
• Coffee “C”® options (symbol KC) have experienced a 42% volume increase.

The New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) is New York’s original futures exchange, where the world trades food, fiber and financial products. For well over a century, the New York Board of Trade has provided reliability, integrity and security in a global marketplace for cocoa, coffee, cotton, ethanol, orange juice, pulp and sugar, as well as currency and index futures and options. Information about the New York Board of Trade can be found at www.nybot.com and www.nybotlive.com.