Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Inc Crop Year-To-Date Volume Ahead Of A Year Ago

Crop year-to-date futures volume on Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Inc. at the end of January 2005 was 3.4% higher than a year ago. There have been 956,730 futures contracts traded on the Exchange since August 1, 2004.

Feed wheat trade recorded the largest increase in volume, gaining 37.0% to 45,138 futures contracts. Canola futures volume for the crop year-to-date rose 3.6% to 811,321 contracts. There have been 100,241 western barley futures contracts traded since the beginning of the 2004/05 crop year.

Total futures and options volume for the crop year-to-date is 1.6% higher than a year ago.

During January 2005, a total of 116,678 canola futures contracts and 3,047 canola options contacts were traded.

Western barley futures volume soared to 82.3% over that of the previous month with 15,452 contracts trading during January. This level of trade is 35.5% higher than the western barley monthly volume recorded a year ago.

Feed wheat futures trade increased 43.6% from December 2004 to 7,695 contracts. This also represents an increase of 42.1% from the feed wheat volume of a year ago.

Total volume for the month of January 2005 was 139,825 futures contracts and 3,047 options contracts.

Open interest continued its upward trend, standing at 87,555 futures contracts and 3,902 options contracts at the end of January 2005. This level of open interest in futures contracts is 26.6% higher than a year ago. The total futures and options open interest of 91,457 contracts is 17.8% higher than the level of a year ago.