« Back to News

Kansas City--July 16, 2010--The Kansas City Board of Trade on Thursday set a new all-time daily volume record in its Hard Red Winter Wheat futures contract. A new daily volume record was set for electronic trading in the contract as well.

HRW wheat futures volume (open outcry plus electronic) tallied 47,937 contracts, exceeding the previous record of 47,933 contracts set on Feb. 11, 2008.

HRW wheat futures electronic trading volume for the day amounted to 42,913 contracts, breaking the previous daily record of 40,588 contracts that was set nearly a month ago, on June 16, by 5.7 percent.

Pricing saw large gains in KCBT wheat futures on Thursday, with the September contract up 33 14 cents, closing at $6.05 3/4.

Contributing to the HRW wheat futures rally and record-breaking volume was declining production prospects out of Russia/Kazakhstan, which is reportedly seeing the worst drought in 130 years, KCBT traders said. Strength in French milling futures prices, as well as recent weakness in the U.S. Dollar, also added to the strength in the market.

Wheat futures volume traded thus far in July is at 311,032 contracts, which already exceeds the total of 299,156 contracts traded in all of July 2009. This active volume comes on the heels of a new all-time monthly volume record for HRW wheat futures in June, when 612,733 contracts were traded.

The KCBT, founded in 1856, is Kansas City’s oldest business and the world's largest futures market for hard red winter wheat. Daily quotes, market commentary, historical data and charting services are available on our website at www.kcbt.com.