CHICAGO — The CME Group on July 30 announced the launch of short-dated new crop options on K.C. hard red winter (H.R.W.) wheat futures. Pending review by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the new short-dated options will be available for trading on the Chicago trading floor and CME Globex on Aug. 26. The products will be listed with and subject to the rules and regulations of the Kansas City Board of Trade.

“Since acquiring K.C.B.T. last year, we’ve significantly developed the hard red winter wheat options complex through the introduction of innovative new products and the growth of standard options,” said Tim Andriesen, managing director, agricultural commodities and alternative investments, CME Group. “These new short-dated options will provide market participants with a cost-effective tool to manage their price risk during targeted timeframes in the hard red winter wheat growing season. At the same time, average daily volume in our standard K.C. H.R.W. wheat options has increased by 30% since December 2012.”

K.C. H.R.W. wheat short-dated new crop options are options on the July 2014 futures with earlier expiring contract months being listed — December 2013, March 2014 and May 2014.