CME Group on Monday said it will end open-outcry grain trading at the Kansas City Board of Trade in June and move the pits to Chicago.
CME, owner of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), bought the Kansas City wheat exchange last year in a US$126 million deal cementing its dominance in global agricultural trading.
The last day of open-outcry trading on the KCBT floor will be June 28.
KCBT's hard red winter wheat (HRW) futures and options would then begin trading on the Chicago floor beginning July 1, pending review by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
CME said the move "will accelerate efficiencies and trading opportunities for customers trading both the HRW wheat and CBOT soft red winter (SRW) wheat varieties."
"By moving Kansas City wheat to the Chicago floor later this year, we will make it as efficient as possible for our customers to trade both products and the spread between the two," Bryan Durkin, CME chief operating officer, said in a release.
CME will operate an electronic trading center in the former KCBT floor space until the end of September, where Kansas City-based traders can execute trades on CME's electronic trading platform, CME Globex. -- Reuters/Staff
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