Open Interest Record on KCBT

KANSAS CITY - Sep 15/05 - SNS -- The Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) reports record open interest in its hard red winter wheat futures contract of 100,969 contracts, breaking the previous record of 98,939 contracts set on August 24, 2005.

The new record represents 504.85 million bushels of wheat compared to the old record of 494.85 million bushels.

"This newest record is among the most monumental in our exchange history. Increasingly, funds are realizing what the commercial population has known for many years, that KCBT wheat futures liquidity is one of the best kept secrets in our industry," explained Jeff Borchardt, KCBT President and CEO.

Wheat futures trading volume has been record-breaking thus far this year. New monthly records were set in February, April, May, June and August. This spate of new records culminated in August, with the largest month ever for wheat futures. A total of 430,409 wheat contracts traded in August, representing 2.15 billion bushels.

Year-to-date trading volume in the KCBT wheat futures contract at the middle of September was 14.2 percent ahead compared to last year through the month of September. As of September 15, the KCBT wheat futures contract traded 2,483,330 contracts, compared to a total of 2,883,370 in all of 2004, an annual volume record. Therefore, 2005 volume thus far is a mere 400,040 contracts shy of a new annual record.