Additionally, a new calendar month record was set for the month of April, breaking the previous April record of 483,398 contracts in 2006 by 59%. This marked the 10th time in the last 11 months that a new record had been set. Total exchange volume was 89.8% greater than last April and 33.8% higher than last month.
"Record-breaking volume at the Kansas City Board of Trade can be attributed to several factors," said KCBT Chairman Michael P. Simmons. "Weather concerns around the world, including dryness in western U.S. HRW wheat areas, wet conditions in the northern United States ahead of Spring wheat planting, dryness in parts of Europe, and concerns about wet weather for U.S. corn planting have been major factors. Also, the rolling of positions from the KCBT May HRW wheat futures contract to the July contract in front of First Notice of Delivery in the May contract on April 29 led to active volume."
HRW wheat futures trading volume was the second largest in the history of the exchange. A total of 734,625 contracts were traded in April, second only to 752,383 contracts traded this past August. A new record was set for the calendar month of April, marking the 11th consecutive month this has occurred. The previous monthly record for April was 436,265 contracts, with the new record a 68.4% increase. Volume was 83% greater than April 2010 and 34.2% higher than last month.
Year-to-date trading volume continued to post substantial gains over 2010 trading volume, a year in which new annual volume records were set. Total exchange trading volume was running 90.2% higher than last year, with HRW wheat futures volume running 85.9% ahead.
Wheat options trading volume in April was nearly nine times larger than that of last April, with volume increasing 25.5% compared to last month. Year-to-date volume was nearly four times of that traded last year, while open interest was up 92.9% over the same time period.
