LONDON, Oct. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it will expand its base metals offering with the introduction of a new Copper Premium Grade A CIF Shanghai (Metal Bulletin) futures contract to begin trading on November 20, 2017. Pending regulatory approvals, the new contract will be available for trading on CME Globex and for submission for clearing through CME ClearPort. It will be listed with and subject to the rules and regulations of COMEX.

"Our new copper contract will provide the first, financial settled exchange-traded futures product to enable customers and market participants to hedge their exposure to the China copper premium," said Young-Jin Chang, Global Head of Metals Products, CME Group. "We believe this new contract, which will complement CME Group's existing physically delivered benchmark COMEX copper futures, will become a reference price for copper traded in or delivered to China."

Copper futures volumes have increased dramatically with more than 115,000 contracts traded on average each day in September and a record 338,000 contracts open interest on 16 August 2017.

"The creation of the new CME CIF Shanghai Copper Premium contract based on Metal Bulletin's assessment is a timely development and we plan to be an active participant in a contract that should contribute liquidity and transparency to the underlying physical market," said Paul Wilkes, Head of Derivative Trading at Concord Resources.

"We welcome the creation of a liquid, transparent futures market for China copper premium via this CME Copper Premium CIF Shanghai futures contract based on Metal Bulletin's assessment," said Nimrod Hadani of JB Commodities Ltd. "We expect strong demand from market participants across the value chain, and we look forward to transacting in this new market for years to come."

The Copper Premium CIF Shanghai futures will be 25 metric tons in size and will be financially settled against the Metal Bulletin Copper Grade A Cathode CIF Shanghai assessment of copper spot price transactions in China.

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. Through its exchanges, CME Group offers the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. CME Group provides electronic trading globally on its CME Globex platform. The company also offers clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives through CME Clearing. CME Group's products and services ensure that businesses around the world can effectively manage risk and achieve growth.

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SOURCE CME Group