The New York Mercantile Exchange, using Platts OTC broker indexes, will introduce two new rail-served cash settlement futures contracts, one of CSX-origin and the other based on 8,800-Btu Powder River Basin coal, NYMEX Research Director Jay Gottlieb said at Platts Coal Marketing Days in Pittsburgh last week. These two are the first coal futures contracts that NYMEX will introduce in more than three years (CO 6/18/01). On July 12, 2001, NYMEX introduced its long-awaited Central Appalachian-' sourced contract based on 12,000 Btu/lb, 1 percent sulfur and 10 percent moisture. That instrument is based on single barge load contracts (1,550 tons) at Big Sandy River origin points. NYMEX finally introduced that contract after obtaining approval for trading from the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission in May 1998. NYMEX had been waiting for several years for more volatility to develop in certain coal markets. Now, as then, NYMEX is banking that the new launch could spark renewed interest in hedge market vehicles for coal.
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