June 16, 2006

CBOT corn options contract hits the one-millionth mark

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) announced on Jun 15 that for the first time in the contract's history, CBOT corn options reached a record-high open interest of 1 million contracts, closing at 1,015,594 contracts on June 14.

The solid performance and strong growth of the CBOT's corn complex, as well as its agriculture futures and options complex overall, comes at a time of rapid growth in the global agricultural economy, said Bernard Dan, CBOT President and CEO.

Year-over-year contract volume through May 31, 2006, in CBOT corn options has increased 45 percent over the same time last year. The CBOT corn futures contract has also increased 47 percent during the same period.

The CBOT would also begin trading its corn, wheat, soy, soy oil, soymeal, rough rice and oat futures contracts on e-cbot(R), the Exchange's electronic trading platform, during open auction trading hours starting August 1, 2006.

The CBOT launched its South American soybean and ethanol futures contracts electronically in May.