The Chicago Mercantile Exchange's (CME) first steel futures contract, US Midwest domestic hot rolled coil (HRC), failed to generate any business on the Globex electronic trading platform on Monday. The front-month December contract HRCZ8 settled at $680/net ton.
"This is not unusual for the first day of a contract that has never been traded before," a CME spokesperson told press. "We understand that it takes time for these contracts to grow and we are committed to the contract."
When trading on CME's first US steel futures contract commences, the contract size will be 20 net tons with a minimum price fluctuation of $5/net ton and the contracts will be listed for 18 consecutive months.
Contracts will settle against an index developed by Commodities Research Unit (CRU), which up until this point has provided the industry with its only price gauge by polling steel producers.