Originally sledged to open on April 21, the ASX delayed the launch pending regulatory clearance, which has since been granted.
Once trading begins, the futures contracts will be sufficient to support four calendar years and options will cover six-month, three-quarter and four calendar-year periods.
The bourse said the contract units of 1000 tonnes of thermal coal met Japanese requirements, with a pro rata adjustment for net calorific value and fixed percentage discounts for ash and sulfur levels.
The new contracts will have near 24-hour trading for the benefit of Europe and Asia and will settle each day at 4:30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time.
A briefing pack on the new thermal coal futures and options is available on the ASX website.
Currently the globalCOAL NEWC index is the standard for Newcastle thermal coal prices and is updated weekly every Monday on globalCOAL’s website.
