"These contracts recognize Canada's central role in the global agricultural marketplace and they serve an essential role in providing transparent price discovery and risk management tools," said Brad Vannan, president and chief operating officer of ICE Futures Canada. "Domestic and international market participants have expressed substantial demand for global benchmark futures contracts designed specifically for Canadian milling wheat, durum wheat and barley. We will continue to work with the industry and regulators as these contracts are developed."
The new milling wheat, durum wheat and barley contracts will be modeled on ICE Futures Canada's canola futures contract, which has annual trading volume in excess of 4 million contracts (80 million tonnes) and is familiar to Canadian farmers, merchants and processors, as well as the international trading community.
The contracts, which will be priced in Canadian dollars, have been designed in consultation with grain market participants. The milling wheat and durum wheat contracts will be 100 tonnes in size, while barley, like canola, will be 20 tonnes. ICE Futures Canada expects to publish contract specifications pending regulatory approval from the Manitoba Securities Commission. Following approval of the MSC and enactment of Bill C-18, the exchange expects to list the new contracts for delivery in October 2012.
