CME Group to Expand Battery Metals Suite with Launch of Spodumene Futures on October 28

Rhea-AI Summary

CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, announced the launch of a Spodumene CIF China (Fastmarkets) Futures contract on October 28, 2024, pending regulatory review. This expansion of their battery metals suite aims to enhance hedging capabilities and manage price differences across the lithium value chain. The contract will be financially-settled and listed by COMEX.

Industry leaders from Albemarle, Liontown, and Fastmarkets have expressed support for this initiative, highlighting its potential to improve risk management and market transparency. CME Group's existing battery metals products, including Lithium Hydroxide and Cobalt Metal futures, have shown significant growth, with open interest in Lithium Hydroxide futures surpassing 30,000 contracts this year.

Positive

• Expansion of battery metals suite with new Spodumene futures contract
• Launch date set for October 28, 2024, indicating concrete plans
• Support from major industry players like Albemarle and Liontown
• Open interest in Lithium Hydroxide futures surpassed 30,000 contracts
• Cobalt Metal futures open interest extends through 2028

Negative

• None.

CHICAGO, Sept. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that it will expand its battery metals suite and launch a Spodumene CIF China (Fastmarkets) Futures contract on October 28, 2024, pending regulatory review.

"Our suite of cobalt and lithium products serve an important role in the rapidly evolving battery metals space, with industry adoption accelerating," said Jin Hennig, Global Head of Metals at CME Group. "With this launch of Spodumene futures, we will expand hedging capabilities, making it easier for the market to manage the price differences across products in the lithium value chain."

"Albemarle welcomes CME Group's launch of spodumene futures, which complements the lithium market's evolving risk management needs," said Peter Hannah, Albemarle's Global Product Pricing Manager. "We recognize that trust in physical prices underpins confidence in futures trading, and are proud that our bidding event price discovery initiative has added valuable transparency to the spot market. The combination of liquid and robust physical and futures pricing mechanisms can help our industry grow." 

"Developing a liquid and transparent lithium market is essential for all the players in the battery value chain and CME Group continues to work towards this goal," said Grant Donald, Chief Commercial Officer at Liontown. "A forward curve for key materials across the entire supply chain will be essential to effectively manage price risk for the rapidly growing clean energy market."

"The spodumene futures contract launch with the CME Group marks a significant step forward for the lithium market," said Raju Daswani, Chief Executive Officer at Fastmarkets. "With this contract, the industry gains a tool to manage price risk associated with the spodumene price, conversion margins, as well as take a view on the lithium conversion spread itself. We believe this will positively contribute to the liquidity across the entire battery raw materials futures complex," he added.

CME Group is the leading marketplace for managing battery metals risk. Open interest in Lithium Hydroxide futures surpassed 30,000 contracts for the first time this year and now extends through 2026. Open interest in Cobalt Metal futures also remains robust and extends through 2028, providing essential price transparency further along the curve.

Spodumene CIF China (Fastmarkets) futures will be financially-settled and will be listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX. Fastmarkets is one of the most trusted cross-commodity price reporting agencies (PRA) in the agriculture, forest products, metals and mining, and new generation energy markets. For more information, please visit here.

As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals.  The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.  In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. 

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.  NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.  COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group LTD. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"). "S&P®", "S&P 500®", "SPY®", "SPX®", US 500 and The 500 are trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

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SOURCE CME Group

FAQ

When will CME Group launch Spodumene Futures?

CME Group plans to launch Spodumene CIF China (Fastmarkets) Futures on October 28, 2024, pending regulatory review.

What is the purpose of CME's new Spodumene Futures contract?

The Spodumene Futures contract aims to expand hedging capabilities and make it easier for the market to manage price differences across products in the lithium value chain.

How will the CME Spodumene Futures contract be settled?

The Spodumene CIF China (Fastmarkets) Futures contract will be financially-settled and listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX.

What is the current status of CME's Lithium Hydroxide futures?

Open interest in CME's Lithium Hydroxide futures surpassed 30,000 contracts for the first time this year and now extends through 2026.