CME Group announced that its two new China portside iron ore futures contracts have launched and are available for trading. A total of 500 contracts have traded since launching on January 10, with participation from a number of firms, including ForChi Holding Pte Ltd, Theme International Trading and Trafigura. These trades were brokered by a number of inter-dealer brokers including BPI Financial Group, SSY Futures and Straits Financial Services.

These two new CME Group contracts are financially-settled based on assessments for portside prices published by Argus Media. The Iron Ore China Portside Fines CNH fot Qingdao (Argus) futures contract settles to the Argus PCX 62% Fe Portside Iron Ore Index and is quoted in CNH per wet metric ton, while the Iron Ore China Portside Fines USD Seaborne Equivalent (Argus) futures contract settles to the Argus PCX Seaborne equivalent index and is quoted in USD per dry metric ton. These contracts are listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX.