KCBT Sets New Exchange Annual Volume Record - Year-To-Date Volume At The KCBT Through Tuesday Was 3,964,449 Contracts, Surpassing The Previous Annual Record Of 3,953,536 Contracts Set In 2005

Trading activity Tuesday at the Kansas City Board of Trade pushed 2006 exchange year-to-date trading volume past the previous annual record set just last year. Year-to-date volume at the KCBT through Tuesday was 3,964,449 contracts, surpassing the previous annual record of 3,953,536 contracts set in 2005. Three and a half months remain for the exchange to build on the new annual record.

Active trading in the exchange’s hard red winter wheat futures and options contracts led to the new volume record as the wheat futures contract is on the verge of setting another annual volume record, the eleventh time in 13 years that a new record will be set for that contract. Through yesterday’s session, annual volume was 3,551,709 contracts, a mere 131,210 contracts shy of last year’s record of 3,682,919 contracts.

"Setting a new annual volume record with over three months of trading left in the year is a momentous achievement for the exchange,” said KCBT President and CEO Jeff Borchardt. “The advent of side-by-side trading on August 1st reinforced the record-breaking volume we have been seeing at the exchange as a new monthly record has been set in each of the past 11 months.”

The Kansas City Board of Trade, founded in 1856, is the world's largest futures market for hard red winter wheat. This year, the exchange is celebrating its 150-year anniversary.