The Eastern Rail CSX and Western Rail Powder River Basin (PRB) coal swap futures contracts will be available for trading on the NYMEX ClearPortsm trading platform from 7 PM Sundays through 2:30 PM Fridays, with a 45-minute break each day between 2:30 PM and 3:15 PM. Off-Exchange transactions can also be submitted solely for clearing through NYMEX ClearPortsm.
January 2005 will be the first listed month and the contract will be available for the current year and the next two years. It will be cash settled against the corresponding Platts indexes published in Platts Coal Trader, the CSX Big Sandy/Kanawha 12,500 Btu/lb, 1% sulfur index for the Eastern contract, and the PRB 8,800 Btu/lb, .8 lbs. sulfur per million Btu index for the Western contract.
Each contract will be for 1,000 tons.
As part of the Exchange's liquidity provider program on NYMEX ClearPortsm, any trader who makes a bid or offer that is subsequently accepted will receive $3.50 per contract for the Eastern Rail CSX swap futures contract and $1.75 for the Western Rail PRB swap futures contract. The participant on the other side of the trade will pay an all-inclusive fee of $7.00 per contract for the Eastern Rail CSX swap futures contract and $3.50 per contract for the Western Rail PRB swap futures contract.
Fees for a transaction submitted solely for clearing on NYMEX ClearPortsm will be $4.35 per contract per side for Exchange members and $5.00 per contract per side for non-members for the Eastern contract and $2.25 per contract per side for Exchange members and $2.50 per contract per side for non-members for the Western contract.
The trading symbols are QX for the Eastern Rail CSX Coal Swap, and QP for the Western Rail PRB Coal Swap.
Exchange President James E. Newsome said, "The addition of these two new coal contacts will broaden the reach of the NYMEX Division energy complex and create synergies and new trading opportunities for the coal industry."
