MGEX CERTIFIES NEW FINANCIALLY SETTLED HARD WINTER WHEAT CONTRACTS; LAUNCH DAY DETAILED - May 7, 2003

MINNEAPOLIS—The Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) announced today that on May 6, 2003, the exchange certified to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that the rules and regulations of its new financially settled hard winter wheat futures and options comply with the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and its regulations.  The CFTC was also notified by MGEX that trading in the new contracts commences on May 9, 2003.
 
The contracts, Hard Winter Wheat Index (HWI) futures and options, will trade exclusively on MGEXpress®, the exchange’s electronic trading platform.  The MGEX board of directors and ownership approved the rules and regulations of the contracts in April 2003. 
 
MGEX also announced that Raymond Lottie, MGEX chairman of the board, will ring the opening bell at 8:30 a.m. CDT on the MGEX trading floor to commemorate the launch of the HWI contracts.

They will be the first financially settled wheat futures and options traded in the U.S.  The settlement index, the Hard Winter Wheat Index (HWI), is a simple average of approximately 400 country elevator bids collected daily by Data Transmission Network (DTN), an Omaha-based electronic commerce and information services company. 

HWI futures and options contracts will settle financially each calendar month to a three-day average of the spot Hard Winter Wheat Index.  DTN collects elevator bids daily for hard red winter wheat and averages them to arrive at the HWI.  The contracts will reflect country-origin pricing for hard red winter wheat.  Because there is no delivery alternative, futures and options contracts will expire simultaneously.

MGEX, established in 1881, is the only market for hard red spring wheat, Hard Winter Wheat Index (HWI), National Corn Index (NCI) and National Soybean Index (NSI) futures and options.  For more information about MGEX, visit www.mgex.com.
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