Canola futures pit trade volume totalled a record 230,083 contracts for the month of April, 35.5% higher than the year-ago level of 169,807 contracts. Open interest in July 01 canola futures reached a new record level on April 16, 2001 at 41,635 contracts. Open interest levels in canola futures, as of April 30, 2001, were 13.7% higher than the 59,766 contracts attained on the same date one year earlier.
Total monthly futures pit trade reached record levels, for all commodities combined, for the month of April at 273,839 contracts, 26.8% higher than one year ago. Increases in canola, western barley and feed wheat futures volume levels for April were a primary influence behind the overall increase in total futures volume. Crop year-to-date total futures pit trade for 2000/01surpassed the 2 million contract mark at 2,112,531 this month, well ahead of the 1,781,106 contracts traded during the same period one-year earlier. Total futures open interest, for all commodities combined, was also higher for the month, up 4.9%, at 101,440 contracts as of April 30, 2001, compared to the 96,668 contracts open on April 30, 2000.
As well, increases were witnessed in canola options and total options volume levels for the month of April. Total options pit trade in April saw a 35.2% increase to 8,526 contracts, well above the April 2000 level of 6,306 contracts. Total canola options pit trade witnessed substantial increases for the month of April reaching 8,136 contracts, compared to the year-ago level of 4,695 contracts.
Total options and futures pit trade combined was 27.0% higher than one year earlier setting a new record for the month of April at 282,365 contracts. Crop year-to-date futures and options pit trade for 2000/01 reached 2,171,507 contracts, well ahead of the 1,834,984 contracts traded during for the same period of the 1999/00 crop-year.
