As Energy Risk reported in May, the CME is planning to offer Japanese weather futures, based on Tokyo and Osaka, starting on 26 July. The move follows the exchange’s success with its contracts in the US, where Wolverine also acts as lead market maker. Through the first six months of 2004, over 25,000 weather contracts worth over $580 million traded at CME, representing more than a 170% increase over the first half of 2003’s volume.

The monthly and seasonal contracts will be based on average