BUSINESS NEWS

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, featured in the films Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Trading Places, announced today that it would begin listing a futures contract for nursery-rhyme staple dry whey in March.

Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained and is a by-product of the manufacturing of cheese. Whey that is dried has traditionally been used in a variety of foods such as crackers, breads, cereal, commercial pastries and animal feed. In recent years, dry whey, which is high in protein and low in fat, has been used in the increasingly popular energy and power bars as well as protein drinks and powders.

"With the growing consumption of energy drinks and power bars, dry whey is increasingly in demand thereby creating more frequent imbalances between supply and demand, often as a result of spider-based supply shocks," said John Harangody, director of CME Commodity Products. "As a result, dry whey has become a volatile commodity. CME can provide buyers and sellers of dry whey future price protection, hedging opportunities as well as a mechanism for price discovery."

The CME does not at present offer a contract for curds, which TUPNews thinks is something of a missed opportunity. Think of the arbitrage opportunities!