Parties Look to Improve the Futures Contract

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange plans to examine and improve its live cattle futures contract.  NCBA will be involved in the talks.  All sides of the contract will be represented in the discussions.

“This is a culmination of what members asked for and now we are going to step into the fold and see if we can improve the contract for risk management and price discovery,” said Chandler Keys, NCBA vice president of Public Policy.  

NCBA members have established policy calling for improvements of the contract.  NCBA and the Price Discovery Think Tank have identified these areas as being of top priority. 

The Futures Working Group, a subcommittee of the Think Tank, is also working with the CME to resolve bottlenecks during the delivery of live cattle against the futures contract.  The Group has scheduled a Nov. 22 meeting with USDA and CME officials to discuss these delivery bottleneck issues.