tl:BM&F COTTON FUTURES VOLUME REMAINS SMALL

摘要

The Bolsa de Meicadorias & Futures (BM&F) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, launched a new cotton futures contract on November 22, 1996. During the first year of existence, the contract was regularly traded on a daily basis, however, trading volume remained relatively small and averaged just 58 contracts a day, an equivalent of about 1,200 bales of cotton. The BM&F contract size is just 10,000 pounds, or one-fifth of the New York cotton futures contract. The largest number of contracts was 224 traded at BM&F onJanuary 30, 1997 and 210 contracts were traded on September 2, 1997. The BM&F cotton futures contract has not yet become a popular instrument for hedging and speculation in Sao Paulo.