CBOT to limit ag receipts held by non-grain firms

CHICAGO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The Chicago Board of Trade
requested approval from its regulator, the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission, to limit the number of grain shipping
certificates and warehouse receipts that a non-grain firm can
hold, an exchange advisory said on Monday.

The rule change is designed to reduce the large number of
delivery instruments held by non-grain firms and increase the
hedging effectiveness of CBOT's corn, wheat, oat, rice,
soybean, soyoil and soymeal contracts, the advisory said.

The CBOT, a subsidiary of the CME Group (CME.O: Quote, Profile, Research), has been
under fire for more than a year by the U.S. grain industry to
improve the hedging performance of its grain and soy contracts,
in particular its soft red winter wheat contract.

Beginning Feb. 17, the Chicago Board of Trade will limit
the number of registered shipping certificates or warehouse
receipts that a non-grain entity can hold. Anyone holding more
than the specified limit has until May 31 to comply.

The limits are listed below.
Commodity Limit
Corn shipping certificates 600*
Soybean shipping certificates 600*
Wheat shipping certificates 600*
Soybean oil warehouse receipts 540
Soybean meal shipping certificates 720
Oat shipping certificates 600
Rough rice warehouse receipts 600
*Includes certificates for CBOT mini-contracts.
(Reporting by Christine Stebbins; editing by Richard Chang)