CME Group and SGS Open Cocoa Grading Facility in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM and LONDON, July 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, and SGS, the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, today announced the opening of a new, state-of-the-art cocoa grading facility in Amsterdam.

Physically delivered, euro-denominated Cocoa futures were launched on CME Europe in March this year. Since launch it has traded more than 6,000 contracts and has over 1,000 contracts in open interest. This was complemented in June 2015 by the introduction of Cocoa options. Amsterdam was selected as one of three delivery ports for CME Group's new Cocoa futures contracts.  Futures markets in cocoa are essential to manage risks in the complex supply chain involved in chocolate and related manufacturing across Europe. For a futures contract to be an effective hedge for physical cocoa, the process of sampling and grading cocoa held in storage must be rigorous.

"Opening a grading facility in Amsterdam puts this important function within close proximity of the key cocoa storage facilities, therefore improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the futures sampling and grading process," said Cees Vermaas, CEO of CME Europe.  "Our partnership with SGS helps to further ensure the integrity of the process, resulting in fair values for our clients and a more effective hedging tool for the cocoa market."

"Delivering high quality services and fast turnaround times, our new grading facility puts SGS and CME Europe at the forefront of the European cocoa market," said Albert Wesenhagen, Agricultural Business Development and Branch Manager, SGS. "Our highly trained personnel will conduct intake supervision, as well as all testing and grading in accordance with CME Europe criteria and procedures and FCC rules."

For more details on CME Group's Cocoa contracts, please visit http://www.cmegroup.com/cocoa. 

About CME Group
As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globe® electronic trading platform, its trading facilities in New York and Chicago, and through its London-based CME Europe derivatives exchange.  CME Group also operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers through CME Clearing and CME Clearing Europe, which offer clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded contracts and over-the-counter derivatives transactions. These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk.

CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globe and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.  NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.  COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group CME and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.

About SGS
SGS is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company and is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 80,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,650 offices and laboratories around the world.  We help ensure the integrity of the food chain by providing services that cover all aspects of the agricultural industry, helping customers manage crops, enhance seed development, conduct soil testing and harvesting, move product through the global supply chain and manage trade inspection at export and import. Serving all of the major players in the agricultural sector, our services reduce risk, ensure quality and improve productivity.

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SOURCE CME Group