KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, U.S. — The Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) set new calendar month records in May for both the exchange and the hard red winter wheat (HRW) futures contract, the KCBT said on June 1.

A new calendar month record was set for the month of May in total exchange futures of 539,710 contracts, breaking the previous May record of 425,682 contracts in 2006 by 21%. This marked the 11th time in the last 12 months that a new record had been set for total exchange volume in a calendar month. Total exchange volume was 75.1% greater than May of 2010.


In addition, HRW wheat futures trading volume set a new calendar month record for the month of May. A total of 517,416 contracts were traded in May, marking the 12th consecutive month this has occurred. The previous monthly record for May was 365,497 contracts, with the new record a 29.4% increase. Volume was 70% greater than May of 2010.

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 is running 87.4% higher than last year, with HRW wheat futures volume running 82.9% ahead.

Wheat options trading volume in May was over five times than that of last May. Year-to-date volume was over four times of that traded last year, while open interest was up 81.9% over the same time period.