Reflecting the increasing business focus on ethanol, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) will launch a CBOT Denatured Fuel Ethanol futures contract on Friday, April 8, 2005. This new contract is designed to address the growing demand for an effective hedging instrument for domestically produced ethanol.

There is significant growth potential in ethanol production, and projections for 2005 represent a 145 percent increase over production levels in 2000. Domestically, corn is the primary material used in ethanol production, a factor which makes the CBOT the natural home for ethanol futures.

—Bernard W. Dan, CBOT President & CEO

Salient features of the ethanol contract are here.