Mar 01 canola futures open interest has increased significantly in recent weeks, rising to 40,025 contracts as of December 27, 2000. This surpasses the previous mark of 29,330 contracts established in the Mar 98 canola futures contract on January 13, 1998.
As well, a new record high level in western barley Mar futures open interest of 10,986 contracts was reached on December 8, 2000. The previous record for open interest in the Mar barley futures was 8,315 contracts for the Mar 98 futures contact on November 25, 1997.
"The high levels of trading activity reflects the continued and growing interest and confidence in the marketplace for WCE products," said Bruce Love, Director of Marketing for WCE. "These statistics display the important role of WCE's products in managing price risk for market participants."
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.
