WCE Volume Up In June

WINNIPEG - Jul 5/06 - SNS -- June was a good month for the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE) with total trading volume jumping 16.5% over last year and 3.8% over May to 254,704 futures and options contracts traded during the month.

The WCE said this is the 13th consecutive month of increased trade on WCE when compared to the same month of the previous year.

Volume of trade in canola futures contracts bolstered the overall increase. A total of 238,967 canola futures contracts traded during June which is an increase of 34.2% from a year ago and 12.9% higher than a month ago. There were also 963 options on canola futures contracts traded during the month.

Trade in grain futures contracts totaled 6,691 feed wheat futures contracts and 8,083 western barley futures contracts.

The crop year-to-date (since August 1, 2005) volume stood at 2,457,088 futures and options contracts as at June 30, 2006. This is 33.7% higher than the crop year-to-date total volume a year ago and surpasses the total volume recorded in each of the past four crop years. Futures contract volume for the crop year-to-date is up 33.1% from a year ago at 2,426,591 contracts. Trade in options contracts is up 96.5% to 30,497 contracts.

At the end of June 2006, total open interest was 100,871 contracts, representing an increase of 44.2% from the level of a year ago. The November 2006 canola futures contract set a new open interest record on Friday, June 30th when it reached 65,812 contracts. This is a record open interest level for any WCE futures contract month.