CME Group announces first trades of aluminium European premium futures

CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced the first Aluminium European Premium Duty-Unpaid futures contracts were traded on Tuesday, 22 September 2015 by Crunch Risk, LLC. A total of 10 futures contracts traded at a price of $72.50 per metric tonne.

"We're pleased to see early support for our new Aluminium European Premium futures, which are an outgrowth of our existing suite of aluminium risk management tools," said Young-Jin Chang, CME Group Senior Director of Metals Products. "Based on the success of our Midwest premium futures, we worked closely with the aluminium industry to develop these contracts that enable our customers to hedge their exposure to European premium volatility."

"This new contract from CME Group comes at a time when we've seen significant demand from our client base in mitigating their premium risk both in the U.S. and in Europe," said Andre Marshall, President of Crunch Risk, LLC. "We applaud CME Group for being first to market with this new aluminium European premium contract and are pleased to help facilitate its launch by brokering the first trades. Moving forward, we're optimistic about the potential for continued growth and liquidity in this contract as we continue to see volatile premium prices."

Industry participation in the Aluminum Midwest Premium futures contract has steadily increased, trading the equivalent of more than 780,725 metric tons since their launch in April 2012 and reaching a record 19,335 contracts open interest on 1 September 2015.

Aluminium European Premium Duty-Unpaid futures contracts became available for trading on 21 September and are listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX.