CHICAGO, March 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, today announced the first trades of Molybdenum Oxide (Platts) futures. A total of 90 contracts were traded on March 13, 2023, with open interest extending out to February 2024.

“We are pleased to see early interest and support for the new Molybdenum futures, which is the latest product designed to help participants manage the risks associated with the energy transition,” said Jin Chang, Managing Director and Global Head of Metals at CME Group. “Molybdenum has many applications, including to enhance the performance of steel, and demand for the material is expected to rise as production of clean power technologies ramps up. Molybdenum futures will allow for the industry to hedge against increasingly volatile prices, while also providing important price signals in an emerging market.”

“We are pleased that CME Group has introduced Molybdenum futures. Demand by and large is expected to grow, in particular demand from clean energy sectors such as wind, hydrogen, and other green technologies is on the rise,” said Hector Silva Head of Molybdenum Trading at Glencore. “Glencore is excited to participate in these markets, which will help create more price discovery in areas essential to the green transition.”

“We see the launch of Molybdenum futures as another important milestone in the global transition to cleaner sources of energy, where Traxys is playing a critical role today,” said Daniel Katz, Head of Molybdenum Trading at Traxys. “We are already an active participant in CME Group’s Cobalt and Lithium markets as demand for electronic vehicles continue to increase and we look forward to helping Molybdenum markets grow, which will better serve our customers and suppliers in these emerging areas.” 

Molybdenum futures have a contract size of 1,322.77 pounds, the equivalent of 60% of one metric ton, which reflects standard trading terms in the physical molybdenum market. Molybdenum futures are financially-settled to the Platts Molybdenum Oxide Daily Dealer (Global) assessment, which is the key industry reference point for pricing molybdenum oxide and associated downstream products across the supply chain.

Molybdenum futures are listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX. For more information and for full contract specs, please visit here.