There were 153,269 canola futures contracts and 25 flaxseed futures contracts traded during the month.
Total futures contract trading volume for December 2003 was 168,502, representing a decline of 7.7% from the volume recorded a year ago.
Options volume for December was 3,793 contracts, including 3,681 canola options. This level of trade is relatively unchanged from that of a year ago.
The combined futures and options trading volume for December 2003 was 172,295 contracts.
Crop year-to-date volume for futures contracts totalled 763,586 contracts, indicating a decline of 12.2% from the crop year-to-date volumes recorded during the 2002/03 crop year. However, crop year-to-date volume for options contracts totalled 20,816 contracts, showing an increase of 60% from the level of trade recorded during the same period of the 2002/03 crop year.
At the end of December total open interest (futures and options combined) stood at 65,301 contracts.
