CME north European HRC contract has record month

September is a new record month in volume terms for US exchange operator CME Group's north European hot-rolled coil futures contract.

A first-quarter trade cleared at €472/t for 500 t/month, while December traded on screen at €473/t. Only two lots traded over the Direct screen, equating to 40t, but this was the first ever screen trade for the nascent contract.

These trades took the September month-to-date total tonnage to 13,540t, Argus calculates, surpassing the previous July record of 12,700t.

It is likely that a new participant entered the contract today in one of the trades, although this could not be confirmed — new participation in embryonic futures contracts typically leads to exponential volume growth.

So far there have been around five active participants on the contract, but interest is increasing from physical participants, with some now setting up to trade.

The Argus daily northwest EU HRC index, which the contract cash-settles against, increased by €5.25/t today to €471.25/t, with 20,000t of fresh trades reported in a €465-480/t range on an S235 basis.

The benchmark index has risen by more than €60/t since the start of August.

By Colin Richardson