NYMEX To Introduce Six Soft Commodity Futures Contracts

New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. today announced that it will introduce six new soft commodity futures contracts on the NYMEX ClearPort® clearing and trading platform, beginning today at 6:00 PM for trade date December 21 .

The new futures contracts and their commodity codes are: NYMEX cocoa (CJ), NYMEX coffee (KT), NYMEX cotton (TT), NYMEX FCOJ (frozen concentrated orange juice) (FJ), NYMEX sugar #11 (YO), and NYMEX sugar #14 (FT).

NYMEX anticipates listing these contracts on CME Globex by the end of January 2007.

The contract units will be: 10 metric tons for NYMEX cocoa futures; 37,500 pounds for NYMEX coffee futures; 50,000 pounds for NYMEX cotton futures; 15,000 pounds for NYMEX FCOJ futures; and 112,000 pounds for NYMEX sugar #11 and NYMEX sugar #14 futures contracts.

For all contracts, the initial contract month will be March 2007. Fees will be waived for the first six months, through June 2007.

Margins for the NYMEX cocoa and sugar #11 futures contracts will be $750 for clearing members, $825 for members, and $1,013 for customers. Margins for the NYMEX FCOJ futures contract will be $1,200 for clearing members, $1,320 for members, and $1,620 for customers. Margins for the NYMEX sugar #14 futures contract will be $500 for clearing members, $550 for members, and $675 for customers. Margins for the NYMEX coffee futures contract will be $2,000 for clearing members, $2,200 for members, and $2,700 for customers. Margins for the NYMEX cotton futures will be $1,500 for clearing members, $1,650 for members, and $2,025 for customers.

Margins for inter-commodity spreads for the NYMEX cocoa and coffee futures contracts will be $150 for clearing members, $165 for members, and $203 for customers. Inter-commodity spread margins for the NYMEX FCOJ and cotton futures contracts will be $300 for clearing members, $330 for members, and $405 for customers. Inter-commodity spread margins for the NYMEX sugar #14 futures contract will be $500 for clearing members, $550 for members, and $675 for customers. Inter-commodity spread margins for the NYMEX sugar #11 futures contract will be $200 for clearing members, $220 for members, and $270 for customers.

The position accountability levels for the NYMEX cocoa futures contract will be 6,000 contracts for any single month or all months. The contracts have a 750-contract expiration month limit. The position accountability levels for the NYMEX coffee futures contract will be 5,000 contracts for any single month or all months. The contracts have a 500-contract expiration month limit. The position accountability levels for the NYMEX cotton futures contract will be 5,000 contracts for any single month or all months. The contracts have a 300-contract expiration month limit. The position accountability levels for the NYMEX FCOJ futures contract will be 3,200 contracts for any single month or all months. The contracts have a 300-contract expiration month limit. The position accountability levels for the NYMEX sugar #11 futures contract will be 9,000 contracts for any single month or all months. The contracts have a 5,000-contract expiration month limit. The position accountability levels for the NYMEX sugar #14 futures contract will be 1,000 contracts for any single month or all months. The contracts have a 1,000-contract expiration month limit.

For each of these contracts, clearing members must identify customers with a position of 25 or more contracts to NYMEX.

NYMEX Executive Chairman Richard Schaeffer said, "NYMEX is excited to be the first to offer these vital soft commodity futures contracts on an electronic trading and clearing platform. We are proud to provide innovative and timely solutions to our customers based on their risk management needs on a dynamic electronic platform. Launching new product lines, such as NYMEX iPortTM and the soft commodities, is part of our continued efforts to diversify our business."

CME Executive Chairman Terry Duffy said, "NYMEX's entry into the soft commodities market is a bold move and logical extension of their product strategy. We look forward to working closely with NYMEX to achieve a successful launch on CME Globex."

For more information, go to www.nymex.com/softs.