The proposed listing date for Western Australia Wheat (WAW) Futures and Options has been deferred. While ASX has received regulatory clearance, the listing date is also contingent on having all necessary agreements in place. ASX remains commited to listing Western Australia Wheat Futures and Options and will confirm a listing date once this is achieved. In the meantime, it is hoped that good rain is received throughout Australia's grain growing regions.

ASX Grain Futures and Options have been trading for six years. In the last three years, in excess of 11 million tonnes of grain and oilseed have traded. Excluding the drought affected August quarters in 2006 and 2007, the last three quarters for operating year 2008/2009 were the most actively traded for the market to date.

When a futures contract is traded, the investor does not pay, or receive, the full value of the contract at the time of the trade. Instead, both buyers and sellers of ASX Futures contracts pay an initial margin and are also liable for daily variation margin calls. The current initial margins were recently reviewed by ASX and can be viewed here.

There are a number of brokers servicing the ASX Grain Futures market. If you are interested to know more about how you can become involved, view the broker contact list.

If the world of derivatives and hedging is new to you, you may find the services of a risk management adviser particularly useful. View the list of ASIC licensed risk management advisers.