WCE Fiscal Year Sees Record Breaking Volume Levels

Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE) reached several records during the 1999/2000 fiscal year. Record performance levels in total futures and options fiscal-year volume, total futures fiscal-year volume, as well as new highs in canola futures volume were achieved.

"The record volume levels we have witnessed this past year at WCE are unprecedented in its 113-year history and reflects the continued and growing interest and confidence in the marketplace for WCE products," said Bruce Love, Director of Marketing for WCE.

Total futures and options trade during the fiscal year (September 1, 1999 to August 31, 2000) reached a record 2,348,385 contracts. The previous record of 2,092,754 contracts was set during the 1998/99 fiscal year.

During the 1999/2000 fiscal year total futures volume surpassed the previous annual record of 2,044,224 contracts (1996/97) reaching 2,271,516 contracts (1999/2000) to establish a new fiscal year-end record.

Activity in canola futures established new all-time volume levels this fiscal year, with 1,797,176 contracts traded, well surpassing the previous record of 1,644,025 contracts set in the 1998/99 fiscal year. WCE provides the world's premier price discovery and risk management tool for canola. Canola is the most actively traded commodity on WCE and has been trading since 1963; options on canola futures have been available since 1991.

WCE trades futures contracts in: canola, western barley, flaxseed, oats, feed wheat and field peas; and options contracts in: canola, flaxseed, feed wheat and western barley. Established in 1887, Winnipeg Commodity Exchange is a not-for-profit organization providing financial instruments for price discovery and the transference of risk in an efficient and open manner.