KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, U.S. — The Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) said on Feb. 1 that the volume traded in January posted increases in the hard red winter (HRW) wheat futures contract, the HRW wheat options contract and the exchange as a whole when compared to December 2011. Also, open interest increased in all contracts when compared to last month.

In the HRW wheat futures contract, 369,613 contracts were traded, which was an increase of 45.7% when compared to December 2011 volume. Open interest increased 6.6% during the same time period.

HRW wheat options volume traded in January amounted to 6,680 contracts, which was a 66.1% increase compared to December 2011 volume. Open interest increased 24.9% during the same timeframe.

Total exchange volume for the month of January was 376,293 contracts, an increase of 46% from last month. Open interest was up 8.2% for the exchange over December 2011.