The New York Mercantile Exchange, a subsidiary of NYMEX Holdings (NMX.N: Quote, Profile , Research), said Monday it signed an agreement to introduce uranium futures on its electronic platforms next month.

NYMEX signed a 10-year deal with Ux Consulting Co. (UxC) to introduce on and off-exchange traded uranium futures products on CME Globex and NYMEX ClearPort platforms on May 6 for trade date May 7, the exchange said in a statement.

NYMEX and UxC, a top publisher of uranium prices and price forecasts, will provide marketing and education for the financially settled contracts, which will serve as the pricing benchmark for the rapidly growing industry, it added.


Richard Schaeffer, the chairman of NYMEX, said that the introduction of uranium futures provides the industry with transparent price discovery.

"We expect to create a benchmark contract for this important and underserved global market," he said.

Announcing the specifications for the new uranium futures, NYMEX said in another statement that it will be U3O8 or "yellowcake," which refers to concentrated uranium oxide that is produced from uranium ore. The contract code will be UX.

The contract, to be listed for 36 consecutive months, will be 250 pounds in size with a minimum price fluctuation of $0.05 per pound. The contract will be settled on the spot month-end U3O8 price published by UxC, the exchange added.

算了一下，一张1000多美金的保证金，似乎有点意思...