OREANDA-NEWS. September 28, 2016. CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that in December it will begin transitioning its CME Dairy Spot Call, for daily price discovery in physical dairy markets, to an electronic, transaction-based auction, which can be accessed through CME Direct. Ultimately, this will replace the physical spot market held via a limited open outcry session on the company's Chicago trading floor that currently facilitates price discovery, trading and delivery of dairy products such as Cheese Barrels, Cheese Blocks, Butter and Nonfat Dry Milk.

The dairy products will be transitioned to the platform in two phases beginning December 5 when the Nonfat Dry Milk Spot Call trading session will be made available to customers and market participants through the CME Direct Auction Platform. Butter and Cheese are expected to transition to the auction platform during the first quarter of 2017.

"In response to requests from customers and dairy industry participants, we will begin to transition these markets to our transaction-based auction platform accessed through CME Direct," said Tim Andriesen, CME Group Managing Director of Agricultural Products. "We believe this will further enhance the transparency of spot dairy prices, while expanding access to a broader set of commercial customers, brokers and other physical market participants. The Dairy Spot Call is unique to CME Group and assists our customers with physical dairy market price discovery. We will continue working closely with customers to ensure a seamless transition, beginning with Nonfat Dry Milk in December."

The transition of the CME Dairy Spot Call to the electronic CME Direct Auction Platform will have no impact on the availability and accessibility of Dairy futures and options products, which are listed with and subject to the rules and regulations of the CME.

The CME Direct Auction Platform is an innovative and proven transaction-based auction platform for trading and price discovery in physical spot markets. It provides real-time order management, order history, confirmations and a full audit trail. In 2014, CME Group partnered with the London Bullion Market Association and Thomson Reuters to provide the over-the-counter spot silver market with a transaction-based price-setting mechanism for the LBMA Silver Price.

For more information on the CME Dairy futures and options or for information on accessing the CME Dairy Spot Call on the CME Direct Auction Platform, please visit www.cmegroup.com/spotcall.   

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk.  CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals.  Around the world, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform and its exchanges based in Chicago, New York and London.  CME Group also operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers through CME Clearing and CME Clearing Europe, which offer clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives.  CME Group's products and services ensure that businesses around the world can effectively manage risk and achieve growth.

CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.  NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.  COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.