ICE Futures Canada plans to launch spring wheat and durum contracts early next year to capitalize on the Conservative government plan to end the Canadian Wheat Board’s grain monopoly, Reuters reports.
The spring wheat contract will compete with the one offered by the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, but will also complement it, while the durum contract will be the only one in the world, said ICE Canada president and chief operating officer Brad Vannan, in an interview with Reuters.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Wednesday that the Conservative government will introduce legislation this autumn to eliminate the board’s marketing monopoly on Western Canada’s wheat, durum and barley in August 2012, the start of the 2012-13 marketing year.
